Circles
by PhoenixDfire
Summary: They escaped at the battle of the line.They crossed almost the entire galaxy and found a new home.Now almost twenty years later, Captain Douglas of the CNV Ark Royal is facing the Minbari Nightmare again. A Babylon 5 IWar Cross Over. See Forum for detail
1. Chapter 1

"Nothing on the scope, Sir"

"All indicators on the level."

"Course maintained at 5000 metres."

Captain P.H. Douglas smiled and looked over the bridge of CNV – 399, Ark Royal. He was sitting in the captain's chair, at the rear of the bridge. From behind his command console, the bridge looked cramped, very similar to bridges of submersible warships from three hundred years ago. The other three command crewmembers were sat ahead of him at their stations.

Directly ahead of him was the pilot. Smith was a quiet older man who'd been a flight cadet with Douglas. Clanwellin, the gunner, was to his left. A young cadet, straight out of the academy. Finally there was Kelly, the engineer. They kept their heads down, monitoring their systems. Clanwellin turned to face him.

"Sir, there is no-one within scanning distance. May I recommend we move to yellow alert?"

"Mr Clanwellin, are you quoting the book at me?" There was a hint of threat in Douglas' voice.

"Yes Sir."

"Captain's discretion." The captain held his gaze. "Mr Clanwellin, I know this is only your second trip and you're only learning. But I thought you were taught how to follow orders?"

"Aye Aye Sir." He turned back to his readouts.

Douglas regarded Clanwellin. That was his only warning, any more questioning and he'd come down on the boy hard but he'd have to learn. He could see Kelly's shoulders shake, she was probably trying not to laugh. She may be an engineer of the highest calibre, but she was also the firebrand that always got into scrapes on shore leave. She seemed to be on report permanently.

"Mind your station, Ms Kelly!"

"Sir!"

He called up the short-range scan. The medical transport 'Do No Harm" was a steady 5Km off the port bow on their way to new Ireland colony, after the green glow "incident". He was of the opinion that the situation should be left alone, but he had his orders. Of the four medical transports sent, three had disappeared and the fourth had been recovered with serious battle damage. There had been no survivors. It was worrying that the number of pirate attacks had gone up. But he couldn't understand what pirates had to gain by totally destroying their prey. There was nothing left to salvage.

The Ark Royal was a small corvette in the service of the commonwealth. It had the more firepower for a ship twice its size. Armed with forward and rear plasma cannon and missile magazine, it was more heavily armed than the old cruisers that Douglas used to man in his old Earth Force days.

The ship itself looked like a flat streamlined fish. It was a design that proved itself when the black ships came four to five years ago. The ship's shield array system could deflect most energy, away from the ship, as long as the array was pointing in the right direction. It had saved many lives at the time, but this situation was turning out very differently.

What worried him the most was that the blast damage on that recovered fourth transport. The residue on the damage suggested Minbari energy signatures. Maybe after twenty years, the Minbari had found them. After four ships had been attacked in four runs, he had no intention of standing his crew down, even if Clanwellin and the book recommended. An alert sounded on the Clanwellin's Station.

"Sir Multiple contacts, range and bearing on screen." announced Clanwellin

"Smith. Plot an intercept course. Kelly, sound battle stations."

Acknowledgements came from both crewmembers. The klaxon's sounded. There were 45 other members of the crew, repair crews mostly. As soon as the alarm went they'd start getting the repair systems on line, bulkheads would be closing in case of decompression and the missile and PBC would be coming on line.

"PBC on line, Shield array's on line. Magazine loaded and armed. Sir!" announced Clanwellin.

Douglas acknowledged the report and opened a channel.

"Attention unidentified ships. This is the CNV Ark Royal. State you intentions."

"Sir, Two Ships are breaking off towards us 10km. The third is heading for the transport."

"FTL for Backup." Douglas ordered. "Kelly, Order the transport to raise its shield and track the third ship. Clanwellin, lock missile, slow mode, on Bogie One and fire immediately."

"Missile away Sir "

"Smith prepare for a n-180 pitch and head straight between them."

"Aye Sir"

"7 Km"

"They're firing. Shield arrays are tracking Bogies One and Two."

The Ark Royal began to shake as the shields tried to deflect the incoming energy.

"Lock PBC on target two and prepare to fire."

The two aggressors came into visual range. Ark Royal was going to head straight in-between them. The ships seemed to be black in colour. The looked like darts but more rounded, more organic. They had two wings with what looked like an engine on each. They didn't look Minbari and they didn't have the same fighting style Douglas remembered from the war. Fire continued to stream from both

"Shield Array one is overloading."

"3 K." Smith reeled off the distance

"Keep them on-line!"

"Permission to fire Sir!"

Clanwellin sounded on the verge of panic.

"2 K"

"Denied, Wait for the order."

"1 K"

"Smith, n-180 pitch now"

"Clanwellin, Rapid fire on second Bogie once complete"

Ark Royal's nose began to rise. Douglas lost sight of the enemy as they sped by. The ship flipped over and was now flying backwards. The two other ships began to turn, giving Clanwellin an easy profile to hit. The PBC fired burst after burst, raking its target with lances of light. The ship seemed to crumble after a few hits and then blew out in an expanding ball of flame.

"Full Forward, Intercept the Third bogie."

"Sir, The first bogie is lined up." Clanwellin's voice sounded as if it was going through the roof.

"Don't worry about that one." Douglas tried to sound reassuring.

The view port flared as the slow missile hit its target.

"Dorsal shield's down sir. ETR 2 minutes." Kelly sounded calm and collected

"Roll 180, Show them our good side."

"Aye Aye sir." Smith acknowledged. You had to listen hard to hear him.

"Sensors report first Bogie out of control and third Bogie making a run for it."

"Transport, what's your status?" asked Douglas.

"Overloaded shield, but no other damage." Came the reply.

There was a gasp from Kelly.

"Jump point forming ahead of target three."

Douglas stomach went tight, "Reinforcements?"

"Negative, target three just jumped"

He relaxed, relieved that the danger had passed. There was a flash of PsudoeMotion as two other corvettes arrived.

"This is the Dreadnought and Hibernia. We stand ready to assist you."

Douglas grimaced. It was just his luck that these two would be sent to assist.

"Captain Clay. You just missed it. Could you be so kind to escort the "Do No Harm" in?"

The small framed opened up on the command display, showing Captain Clay. He could be only described as a bear of a man. Tall, black and imposing, he had the kind of voice that had authority stamped all over it. He smiled.

"Of Course, Captain Douglas." He said in a condescending tone, "We've been monitoring your performance. Nice to see you can learn a few tricks now and again."

Clay terminated the connection. He was probably the best captain in the fleet and the problem was that was he knew it. Douglas thought he was an arrogant sod but it was not the kind of thing you say out loud.

"Plot a course back to the original target." He ordered. "See if we can get some answers."

Ark Royal pitched and lined up and fired her main engines. Their opponent grew bigger in the view port. It had lost the rear section of the ship, it's forward area and wings seemed intact. She seemed to be packed with gun ports. There was no visible bridge section and she was spinning round in slow-pitch.

"Hold at 1K and full scan."

The front of the ship seemed to line up with Ark Royal. Douglas's stomach clenched and what seemed like an alarm bell went off in the back of his mind.

"Lock both shield arrays… ".

There was a flurry of activity from Kelly

"Lock PBC!"

The other ship fired when it was lined up. The Ark Royal shuddered under the impact. There was a scream from Kelly, as the engineering station seemed to explode in a shower of sparks.

"Fire at will" Douglas shouted.

The PBC fired and blasted the stationery ship apart. Douglas got up out of the command station and clambered over to engineering station. Kelly's body had gone limp. He felt for a pulse and found a strong rhythm. She seemed to be breathing but she was bleeding from the temple.

"Medic to the bridge." He scanned the readouts left on the Engineering display. Apart from the Shield Array, everything seemed fine.

_Close call._ Thought Douglas.

"Sir, There seems to be Life pod in the wreckage. One life sign." Reported Clanwellin.

"Smith. Recover that pod. "

The Bridge bulkhead opened and a medic ran in. Douglas stepped back. The medic knelt next to Kelly and opened his green medical kit. Douglas could feel the ship under him move as Smith performed the manoeuvres necessary to recover the pod. The medic looked up at Douglas.

"She seems all right sir, concussion I think." he announced.

Douglas visible relaxed. He was almost suckered into thinking that the ship had been harmless. He probably had done the same if the position was reversed. They had no reported casualties apart from Kelly and hopefully she'd be back on her feet soon enough.

"Recovery Team to Bridge." Came the call from the wall speaker.

"This is the Captain."

"Sir, I think you should come and see this."

"Smith. You have the conn." He ordered and left the bridge.

The corvette's corridors were cramped and dark. This was because most of the ship is used for combat not comfort. He was constantly thankful that the artificial gravity system had been invented ten years ago. He remembered what it was like to fly down a corridor and much preferred walking. He made his way up to the Dorsal docking port, where he came across two crewmen.

"What have we got?"

Both Crewmen straightened up, came to attention and one saluted.

"Chief Tech Lennon Sir. Take a Look."

Douglas looked round the corner and his stomach tightened. It was what he had always dreaded. There was an unconscious Minbari. He was slumped against the side of his life pod with his head resting on his shoulder. He was dressing in black with what looked like a brown cloak. On one side of his chest, there seemed to be some kind of badge that was broken in two and on the other was a nametag in English.

It said Lennier.


	2. Chapter 2

The EAS Warlock moved slowly through space. She was cruising through an asteroid field at too slow a speed for the most advanced cruiser in the earth-force fleet. It was very similar to the older Omega class destroyer in form, with it's rotating section and industrial appearance, but it was covered with new organic hull plates and well as extra gun emplacements.

Captain Susan Ivanova sat motionless in the command seat. Her face was held in an impassive mask, like cold marble, as the ship seemed to stagger through the various rocks in the field. This was turning out to be a bad test run for the Warlock. Inside she felt like screaming, both in frustration and disappointment.

The ship should have come with a warning, more assembly required. She could not fault her crew who had to put up a temperamental ship and some orders which kept them on double shifts. Maybe she had got so used to the white star that this seemed like a step back.

"Ma'am." There was a quiet voice to her left. "We have another problem."

Ivanova turned to the quiet voice. She looked at her exec. Davidson, the warlock's executive officer, stood with a slightly pained expression on his face. Ivanova sigh quietly.

"Yes Mr. Davidson."

"Engineering reports that both of the remaining gyros are failing."

"I see." She turned to the view screen. "Helm come about 180, get us out of the field and into clear space."

"Aye ma'am" came the reply.

She turned back to Davidson. Her first officer looked gutted. She felt the same way. Davidson was an excellent officer, one of the reasons she'd requested him as soon as he'd been available. They had been on opposite sides of the civil war four years ago. He'd been at the battle for Mars on the side of President Clark. She'd done that to try and give the crew some unity, after all most of them had been on Clark's side and there might have been problems. Still both factions seemed to have united against a common enemy, their ship.

"I thought those replacements were to sort the gyro's out?"

"We all hoped they would." He smiled. "I'll get a report from Engineering."

She nodded. He executed a perfect about turn and walked off the bridge. He'd anticipated her orders again, but it helped ship efficiency. It was five years since she took command of the warlock and she'd been pleased with her initially. Slightly larger than the Omega class, she'd been the pride of the fleet until these new upgrades came along. Installing more upgrades than the ship could handle in her opinion. The Warlock had been infected with a bad case of the gremlins, for more than the last year. It was almost as bad as the situation on B5 when nothing worked.

Still she kept in contact with everybody through the mail. She'd got Delenn's latest letter only yesterday which had brought everything back yet again. Delenn's letters were always the hardest to read. They always reminded her of Marcus and Babylon 5 the most. She'd not been back to the station in all this time. Vir had invited her back on several occasions, and the new Captain, Lockley, had done the same. She's always used duty as the excuse.

"Ma'am. We're clear of the field."

The voice jerked her back to present. She looked around the status reports.

"Right, Hold here while we await repairs."

Her link sounded, "Ivanova. Report please."

"Well, Engineering says that the new gravity wells, have malfunctioned. We'll have to move to the space-dock. "

"Navigation, set up a course to Proxima 3. Engineering, Can we handle an independent jump? "

"Negative Ma'am. Not while running these gravity wells."

"Navigation, belay that last order. Set course for the nearest jump gate." She turned the Helm officer, "Mr Burtonshaw, you have the conn."

She stood up and walked off the bridge. She certainly could not complain about the crew. They all acted in a professional manner and morale seemed to be above average. Like Babylon 5, she made it her business to know everything that happened on her ship. She turned a blind eye when necessary and came down hard on anything or anyone, she considered not up to the standard she expected. She knew that she wouldn't be as popular as Sheridan would be, but she did discover that she had a reputation.

Iceheart was what her crew called her behind her back. At first she thought that this was to do with her cool manner and lack of visible emotion. However, she'd recently found out it was about what happened between herself and Marcus Cole on B5. That hurt and hurt her very bad, but she was determined not to let it show.

Walking through the corridors, she reflected on her situation. This had been a difficult tour of duty. She felt bored and disheartened. The ship was at least two days from the jump gate at best speed she could manage at the moment. If the gravity wells were switched off, then she could jump immediately, but she didn't have the heart to put the crew through six days of zero-g Hyperspace travel. They'd been through enough.

She arrived at Engineering, walked in to a heated discussion between both her first Officer and her chief Engineer.

"Look, there is no way that I'm going to be able to maintain these systems with out the scrapping those failed gyro's".

The Engineer, a heavyset man called Brook, was in full flow.

"You know that we need to know why these failed. We can't take them apart. We need to find out what went wrong."

_Odd_ thought Ivanova, _That's my call not his._

"Why don't you take this to the Captain?"

_Yes, Why indeed?_

"Because, she's got enough on her plate and if we don't, you know she'll be having us do this run until hell freezes over."

Right then She Thought, I'm not having that. 

"Mr Davidson" she snapped.

Both the Engineer and the First Officer jumped to attention. Davidson turned to face her.

"Ma'am."

She walked slowly up to him not saying a word.

"I'll have a word with you in my office." She snarled, "Report there and await for my arrival."

"Ma'am" he marched off and she turned to the engineer.

"Right, I'll have your report please." She said in a more civilised voice.

"We have a problem in the coolant systems, The only place we have the parts to fix it, are in the malfunctioning Gyros. If we don't, I'll have to have the engineering crew stand double watches on the reactor system. That is until we make port."

"Have the all the gyro's failed in the same way."

"Seems to have Ma'am. "

"And how many will you need to scrap."

"Just the one."

"Right then. Strip that one and make repairs. However, if I ever find you arguing with a superior officer again, the consequences will be severe. "

The Engineer had enough decency to look a little crest fallen

"Aye Ma'am."

"Dismissed." He turned to go.

Ivanova knew that if she caught the little things, then the big things normally sorted themselves out. But this situation had put her into an even blacker mood than before. Maybe this was the beginning of new tensions within the crew. It had to be nipped in the bud quickly before anything escalated.

She followed the corridor back up to the bridge and took a left to her office. Davidson was standing to attention outside her office. She walked up to the door and used her access card to open it. She signalled for Davidson to go inside. He seemed to be holding up under her hard stare but then she expected that from him. She followed him in and closed the door.

"Right. How the hell am I supposed to react to this?"

"Dunno Ma'am."

He was stood facing her desk, with his back to her. She walked round to her desk and sat down.

"Right Davidson, before I continue, do you have anything to say."

"Ma'am. I was wrong. I should have just taken the information to you. I have nothing else to add." He continued to stare over her, as if his eyes could drill into the wall.

She looked at him for a moment and called up his record. Exemplary was an understatement. Only a few people had done better, herself and Sheridan were included in that few. She looked back up at him. He was in his early thirties with a medium build and black hair. His height gave him an advantage in the power ball games and She'd heard the rumours of his antics on shore leave. Apparently, the ladies found it hard to resist his blue eyes and casual manner.

_Well most of them, _she though

"Normally, I should have you up on charges. Instead I'm going to make a note on your record and leave it at that. " She told him.

"Ma'am." He lowered his gaze to look at her. He was genuinely surprised and knew he'd got off incredibly lightly.

"Right, Now sit down. " He sat down.

"I realise that this tour isn't going smoothly, but we have to get a result here. And in order to get those results I need accurate information."

"And, " she continuing, emphasising the 'and', "I need that from people I can trust. As of now until I say so, all the rest here is off the record. "

She fixed him with a determined gaze. "Mr Davidson, Can I trust you?"

He seemed uncomfortable at the question.

"You see, ever since the civil war. I've had it difficult with a lot of people on both sides and I've tried to select people on my ship on merit, not on politics or on what you did during that time. But I need to know if I can't rely on you with a small damage report, what the hell can I have confidence in you with?"

She didn't get angry, or frustrated. She just felt let down and disappointed. He was sat down, looking at her, not with embarrassment or anger. That was the problem, she couldn't read him. There were a few moments of awkward silence.

"Ma'am, I'm not happy with the voyage. I'm just getting impatient. "

"You're getting impatient? What for? Are you wanting to leave when the ship's ready?"

"No Ma'am. I want this ship to be ready ASAP. I think that we need a deterrent to the Ranger's and their white stars."

That took her by surprise.

"You think the Alliance will attack us."

"I don't trust the Alliance. Those Rangers people act so high and mighty." He let the sentence hang, perhaps he realised what he just said, but Ivanova reigned in her control.

"You're entitled to your opinion, but I would like to hear why you think they'll attack."

"Captain. I don't know what to say. I've only got a gut feeling about it. Maybe the way we were wiped out so many times."

"Commander Davidson, I can understand your motivation for getting this ship up and running properly and I've got no problem with it as long as the ship gets sorted. But I think your looking at the wrong people to blame here and whatever you think of Sheridan, I know that he wouldn't attack home."

"Ma'am"

"That wasn't an order, It was something to think about."

He stood up and walked to the door. He turned

"Captain. Thank you. I can only promise my best efforts from now on."

Ivanova smiled, "That's all I'm asking for."

He left the office. Ivanova sighed. At least she felt that she could still trust him.


	3. Chapter 3

Douglas sat in his cabin and pondered the situation. The Ark Royal was back on standard patrol. The Quad system had been quiet in the few days. They'd visited all the three major planets and even the remains of New Ireland, but there were no further signs of any of those black ships. Kelly was back at her old station in engineering, fit and well.

Ark Royal was a typical size for a corvette, 160 metres long and 120 metres at its widest point. They'd had to do quite a lot of manoeuvring around the New Ireland disaster area and no matter how many times they'd done it, he marvelled at the agility of his ship. He tried to imagine doing the same drills in an old earth force cruiser.

He'd ordered all crew to keep quiet on the subject of the prisoner. He wanted to find out a little about this Minbari before reporting him. Captain's discretion was always allowed but he was unsure it would stretch to cover up a being that could be interested in genocide of the whole human race.

The prisoner had recovered and been put into the brig. The medic said he only had mild concussion. There was a knock on the door.

"Come."

Clanwellin walked in and stood to attention.

"The prisoner has awoken up."

Douglas knew what that meant and he really didn't want to go through with what he had to do. But he knew the meaning to the word duty. He stood up and put on his dress uniform.

"Are you well are you rated Mr. Clanwellin?"

"P5 Sir."

"Very well, you'll be my backup. ", he sighed, "and inform Mr. Smith to stand by."

Mr. Clanwellin disappeared from his room. His enthusiasm really made Douglas feel old. He was still a P-5 but that would change in time. He was quite relieved that everybody in the commonwealth was all rated at least P1. The longer you served the higher you P rating got. He'd got his booster last year, bringing up to the level of P12. He was now the equivalent of an old earth Psi-Cop.

There was a natural limit that meant that most people did not reach his level of ability. He didn't know how high up the scale he could go but he looked forward to finding out. Everyone got the training and it helped to form more of a community. You cared more about your fellow man when you could feel what he's feeling. He would not dare to intrude into someone else's mind without permission. Everybody, even P1s, could make it an unpleasant experience and unless you could divide your attention properly, they could also damage you.

In order to perform this interrogation, he was going to have to go into a Minbari mind. He hadn't done that since the war and if there was any other way to do it he would. He finished up his collar and left the cabin.

He arrived at the brig to find Clanwellin and Smith waiting. He peered into the holding cell.

"Right. This is my call." He said to both the men, "If you see me act strange. The standard orders apply, but I'll handle the interrogation alone."

"Aye Aye Sir." Said Clanwellin.

Smith looked doubtful but whispered his reply.

"Oh and Mr. Smith, I'd like a word."

Clanwellin got the hint and walked towards the cell door.

"Alex." He started. "I know, this is difficult but…."

Smith jumped in before Douglas could finish.

"There is no need to Sir! I know my duty. But I don't like it."

"Damn Alex, that wasn't an order. I though after knowing you for almost twenty years you'd know that."

"Look Phil, I'm trying to deal with this. Even though they murdered my family and left me dying, I'm still going to follow your orders. If I didn't that would make me as bad as them."

That was the most Commander Alex Smith had said on this entire cruise so far.

"I know. Right, you will monitor both Clanwellin and myself, if needs be and come in shooting if anything goes wrong. Acknowledged Mr Smith?"

"Aye Aye Sir." Mr Smith looked strained but Douglas knew he would keep his word.

"Let me in Mr Clanwellin."

He walked into the brig. It was a small room 2-metre square, with one bench to sleep on and one small table and one chair. The Minbari just sat on the bench with his legs crossed. It looked as if he was meditating. He had a lot of bruises over his face and probably a lot more over the rest of his body. The shock of the explosion must have been quite bad. Douglas walked over and picked up the chair and there was still no movement. He put the chair round the back of the table and just looked at him.

He knew the Minbari was awake and probably aware of him but he also knew that he wasn't a telepath. There wasn't the same kind of feeling you get when another telepath was near. He sat down on the chair and just looked at the other. He was wearing dark clothing, but not Warrior Caste dress. He had a name in English on the right side of his chest and what looked like a broken broach on his left.

"I'm going to assume that your name is Lennier," said Douglas.

The Minbari opened his eyes. He looked at Douglas for a second and then nodded.

"I must inform you that you are now a prisoner of the commonwealth navy and subject to inquiry and interrogation. This will take place immediately."

"I've already been interrogated by some of your crew," said the Minbari in perfect English and pointed to the bruises on his face, "You will not get any useful information out of me."

"I see. I apologise, if you could tell me which ones and I'll see they're disciplined. They were ordered to leave you alone."

The Minbari considered this.

"What is it you want?"

"Everything you can tell me about that ship you were attached to. Who you are and what you were doing."

"My name is Lennier and I was a Ranger."

_True, _Thought Douglas, he could feel Clanwellin and Smith's confirmation as well.

"Rangers? The only rangers we have in the commonwealth are football teams."

The minbari looked puzzled by this.

"Rangers help keep the peace for the Alliance."

"Oh? Between whom?"

"You have no connection with the Interstellar Alliance?" The Minbari asked.

"Who makes up this Alliance?" Douglas asked. The surface impressions were all true so far.

"Minbari, Drazi, Centari, Narn and the Earth Alliance. As well as plenty of other races."

"Oh under Minbari Rule are they?" Douglas felt a tide of anger rising within him.

"No." The Minbari seemed horrified by this. "The earth alliance is an independent state that has allied itself with us to face whatever external threats there are."

"Are you telling me that the Earth Alliance still exists?"

"Of course. It's always been there. There were some shake-ups after the war."

"I'd imagine so. Did the Minbari impose these changes? "

"No, the Earth Alliance did, to pull in with the I.A.!"

Douglas felt he was loosing the thread of the conversation. There was confusion and fear in the Minbari's mind, but he kept the fear off his face at least.

"Ok. Who runs this Alliance? "

"Sheridan."

Now there was a tremor from the Minbari, he couldn't work out what that feeling was. It wasn't enough for hate but there was a definitely some negative emotion there. There was only one Sheridan that Douglas knew of, a hero from the war.

"Is that John Sheridan?"

"He had to leave Earth Force to become the President of the Alliance, but yes."

Now Douglas thought of something.

"Your ships have been attacking our convoys..." started Douglas.

"They are not my ships! " said Lennier; "I was tracking stolen ships. I'd attached a pod onto one of them to see where they were being taken. They dropped out of hyperspace and attacked your vessels. I have recordings in my life pod."

"What do you know about galactic history for the last, say, twenty years?" Douglas tried a different approach.

"A lot. I was there for most of it."

Douglas stood up.

"I think we should discuss this later." He said, "Do you need any food or water?"

"I need some water." Said Lennier, "When will the interrogation begin properly?"

It was Douglas's turn to look puzzled. "You are already under interrogation. Just because I use the term, doesn't mean we get the thumbscrews out. If you could let me know who the crewmembers were who assaulted you, I'll deal with them." He left the cell.

Douglas looked at Clanwellin and Smith in his office. Smith looked pained. Clanwellin looked confused. They'd been there in this tiny office for the last hour.

"Kelly says that the recordings look genuine. That is definitely a life pod he was in. A ship that advanced doesn't need a sighting pod."

"So, no deception and no shields?" Douglas asked for the sixth time.

"He wasn't a telepath, that was sure." replied Clanwellin, "and if it's not true then he certainly believes it."

"The Earth Alliance still stands and we ran," Smith said. "I should have stayed."

"We were ordered out." Douglas rounded on Smith, "You were relieved at the time if I recall correctly."

Smith looked down at his feet.

"But, if we tell command and we rejoin them, doesn't that mean that the entire of the Quad system is claimed by the old Psi. Corp?" asked Clanwellin.

Both Smith and Douglas grimaced at the suggestion.

"That's not what I would want." said Smith.

"It's also not our choice." said Douglas. "This will have to be reported to command. But I'm going to go back in there and get him to bring us up to date with what he knows. A lot must of happened since we were ordered out. " He turned his attention to his second, "Smith. Bring Kelly up to speed about this, but as of now this matter is only discussed at command level. Make sure of that, Clanwellin. "

There were acknowledgements.

"Smith, set up a recording rig in the cell and start the tape rolling. I'll deal with the prisoner once I find out who assaulted him."

"Sir? You're going to discipline over an assault on a Minbari?" Smith sounded shocked.

"One, We do not assault prisoners, that's something the Minbari did all too often if I remember rightly," replied Douglas, "and Two, This is a subtle interrogation. If we need the heavies, we bring them in later. Now dismissed."

They both left.


	4. Chapter 4

John Sheridan was not a well man. After a goodwill trip to some of the Packmara colonies, he'd seemed to pick up some kind of virus. The shivers and a temperature were the only symptoms but Delenn was worried. Sheridan had to smile. One moment, she'd be rushing around looking after David, the next she'd be fussing around him like a mother hen.

Dr Franklin would have been here but for a medical emergency on Earth. Last time he talked to Stephen, he was still pulling the fifteen-hour shifts. This time it was a viral infection that would slowly attack the nervous system. It came originally from a Drazi Colony but Franklin reckoned that he would find the key to eliminating it.

One thing that did pray on Sheridan's mind was a few ships of the White star fleet had gone missing. He'd been concerned with that one and would have loved to take a couple of ships out and investigate personally. Politics seemed a murky business when compared to flying a white star. He appreciated the freedom it gave you a lot more.

However, before he could take a ship out, he'd been struck down with this Packmara Flu. It would have to wait. He was lying on his bed at the moment, bored out of his mind. He could see out his window to the clear blue sky. He sighed.

One thing he always kept to himself about Minbar was that he felt cold. Not the weather, the place itself seemed cold. The cool colours and marble effect on the architecture that made it look, from a distance, as if it had been built from ice. The sky, when clear, was Ice Blue. The cool manner, in which the ceremonies were conducted, sometimes made him shiver. That was another thing, more ceremonies that you could shake your stick at. There probably was a ceremony for being ill. He shuddered at the thought or it could have been the flu, he wasn't entirely sure.

He kind of missed the passion of a night of shore leave on Earth or a walk through the zoccalo on B5, the vibrant energy, the colours and the smells of bad hot dogs. The door opened and Delenn glided in. All his thoughts of Earth, B5 and everything else just melted away. After five years of marriage, Delenn still looked as beautiful as the first day he saw her.

She had a natural grace, which ballet dancers on Earth would have quite happily killed for. Her long dark hair cascaded over her minbari bone structure at the back of her skull and then fell to about half way down her back. Her features could almost be called elven and nothing seemed to escape her confident gaze from those beautiful brown eyes. She looked so fragile sometimes it was easy to forget what struggles they had been though together and the steely determination that lurked below.

"Oh you look better." Her voice was melodic with a slight Minbari accent.

He slowly raised himself to a raise position.

"Better?" he croaked

"Yes. You are slightly less green than you were yesterday. Is that natural to go that colour when your species is ill?" There was slightly rise in her voice whenever she was joking.

"If the colour is blue, then worry!" He grunted, as she sat on the bed next to him.

"The results have come back from Stephen." She said, "He says you're over the worst of it. But he says to have a week off and in bed…."

Sheridan went to open his mouth.

"… And I promised him that you would so don't make a liar out of me."

"You use that excuse too much." He glared with mock anger.

"Only because it works so well." She smiled, "Anyway, the assembly is locked together in some kind of impasse about trade negotiations, so there would be nothing to do anyway until someone gives a little."

"I'm bored." Said Sheridan, "The only fun I get is watching the doctor's face when he finds out that I've set the bed flat."

Delenn smiled a smile, which faded too quickly. John Sheridan always picked up on little things like that.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I'm going to have to leave on Ranger business." She admitted, "I'd prefer you to be with me, but you're in no condition to go."

"Oh." Sheridan was disappointed.

Delenn was Entil-zah. Head of the Rangers. If she said it was important, then she would have to go.

"Look, I'll leave a message you can review later." She said, "Once you're up and about. You come join me."

She kissed him on the forehead, smiled and stood up.

"I do love you." He said.

"It's a good job you do." She said with a smile, "Because I wouldn't want to love someone who didn't return it."

She left and Sheridan drifted back to sleep. Delenn let the door close behind her and let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't really lying, she was telling herself when her aid came up to her.

"The White Stars stand ready." He announced.

She nodded nervously as the aide walked away. They had lost contact with a large strike force of white stars, approximately thirty of them, in the same region as the few that had disappeared before. She'd specially recorded a message for John. He was in no condition to go chasing after missing vessels. Once he was well enough, he could always join her.

* * *

Lennier was confused. He'd expected to be tortured, have his mind sifted by telepaths and be left as a bloody mess on the floor. Instead, there had just been a quiet question and answer session with a single man, whom had even apologised for the actions of his crew. He wore a uniform which Lennier didn't recognise and the man claimed he was part of a Commonwealth. Lennier had not heard of any organisation of that name. He didn't even know which star system he was in.

During his wandering around the galaxy, he'd heard rumours of white star ships doing things they shouldn't. So he'd decided to investigate. He travelled to the troubled sector, and attached himself in a life-pod to the wing of the first White Star he'd come across. He knew immediately that something was wrong.

The formation the ship flew in, was not standard for the Rangers. He noticed the ship had begun to slowly change colour as well. It's light blue fading darker to Navy Blue and then Black. Then the attacks had begun. He kept a log of his observations and got the strangest feeling of Deja vu.

These White Stars were attacking, unprovoked, in an unknown system. There was no mention of this in the media. There were no orders to or from Minbar, so either Sheridan was sending messages by messenger or someone else was making the orders. It felt eerily like the Centauri situation of five years ago.

He couldn't believe what he saw, so he stuck with this ship. In this unknown system, the wing of four White Stars destroyed several vessels, jumped out and then waiting a few days until jumping back in again. On the pervious trip one of the White Stars was destroyed by the ship it was attacking. It rammed the white star destroying both ships.

This time, the ship which he'd attached himself to, had been destroyed by a new vessel type. One he'd never seen before. Now he was in this cell. He assumed it was on the new ship he'd seen. There was the water he'd asked for and there didn't seem to be anything added to it. The cell door opened. The same man turned up with what looked like a small black box.

"This is a recording device. As this is important to us, our conversation will have to be recorded."

Lennier looked at the man. He looked to be in his late thirties, two metres tall and a medium build. His posture was strictly military. The man was watching him with brown eyes that made Lennier feel a little uncomfortable. His accent was slightly strange to his ears, close to Marcus Cole's but different. British, with maybe a slight celtic, or scottish ring to it. Marcus had made a few comments about Scots, or Jocks as he preferred to call them. All of them seemed to be derogatory and respectful at the same time.

"May I ask who you are?" asked Lennier.

The man seemed to smile with not quite humour.

"I'm a person looking for answers."

_Vague, _thought Lennier.

"All I'm want, for the moment, is your perception of what's happened in the galaxy." He was quick to come to the point it seemed.

"When and where do you want to start?" asked Lennier.

"The start of the Earth and Minbari going at each other's throats." suggested the man.

It was a strange request. His captor knew about the beginning of the Earth-Minbari war, but wanted to know the rest. He even considered lying about the history but he rejected that idea because it served no purpose. Co-operating didn't seem to a problem at the moment.

He expected that they thought that he was a member of the crew of the ship they'd destroyed. If the situation was reversed, he knew the warrior cast of the Minbari would not be so civil, likewise Earth Force itself. He'd like to think that the Rangers would treat a prisoner with respect but he didn't know that they would.

"I can also see," said the man, "that there is something else that's troubling you. If you want to get it all out of your system, they do say that confession is good for the soul."

_What's that supposed to mean? _thought Lennier.

Lennier started his explanation of historical events. He started with the death of Dukat and the beginning of the Earth-Minbari war. The man sat with an impassive mask over his face until he got to the battle of the line. Then there seemed to be some anger in his expression, but he kept it under control. Then he told him that the Minbari surrendered. The man's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Why?" He asked.

Lennier told him about Sinclair and some of their findings while he left out the connection with Valen. He then explained about the Babylon Project and also Sinclair's appointment.

"I knew of this Sinclair during the war." the man interrupted, "Very capable fighter pilot. "

_Interesting _thought Lennier.

"Were you at the line as well?" Lennier asked.

"I would prefer you to carry on with the history lesson." said the man.

"I would like some refreshment? " Lennier wanted to see if his hosts would react to that.

"What would you like?"

"Some vegetables and some more water."

"Would you continue please?"

Lennier couldn't make his mind up whether that was a refusal or not. He restarted with the appointment of Delenn to Babylon 5. He explained some of the highlights of that year and had just explained about the Earth President's death when the door was opened and a tray appeared held by a very nervous looking young man. The younger man looked at Lennier with what looked like an expression of fear.

"Is this satisfactory?" The other man asked as he passed the tray to Lennier.

Lennier tasted a couple of the items and found them to his taste. He nodded to the older man. The older man smiled and the younger man left. Lennier continued with Sheridan's appointment to the station and all the events leading up to the Earth-Centauri treaty. All the time occasionally eating the food he'd been brought. It was very fresh; maybe this ship was re-supplied quiet often or had just left on patrol

The man seemed shocked at the Centauri's use of mass drivers on Narn, but sat unresponsively during the description of the build up of tension to the beginning of the Shadow War. The man signalled for him to stop.

"That's enough for today. I'm going to let you rest. You've been talking straight for six hours."

"Thank you." said Lennier. "I need the rest."

The man stood up to go. He was at the door just about to leave when he turned back.

"Oh, before I forget." said the man, "My name is Captain P H Douglas, just in case you were wondering."

With that he was gone and then door was shut and locked.


	5. Chapter 5

Ivanova looked out of the view port. She could see the jump gate floating ahead of the ship in the ink black of space. These gates were the cornerstones of interstellar civilisation. They enabled cargo ships and passenger vessels to fly between systems without the use of expensive jump engines.

It was a very old jump gate, carbon dated over 20000 years old, one of the oldest earth had discovered. Extra-planetary Expeditions had concluded that the civilisation that had built it had died out. Ivanova had seen some of the markings on it and thought they looked Vorlon in origin, but she wasn't an expert in them.

This particular jump gate had been hammered. There were blast marks all over the structure. That the structure was still intact was due to the fact that these were gates were built to last. There was no use in attacking and disabling these devices because they were of too much use.

There was only one reason to disable a jump gate and that was invasion. The only thing that Ivanova though was strange was there was nothing in this sector worth fighting for. That was one of the reasons the Warlock always tested here. There was normally no traffic here to be worth anybody's time. In fact the only thing that seemed to have any value was this ship.

"Mr. Davidson. "

Her second came to stand next to the command Chair.

"As of this moment I'm putting the ship on yellow alert. Put all weapon crews on stand by and arm the marines,"

He looked supprised at this, but acknowledged it.

"Also, Davidson, ask the chief engineer and his deputy to come to my office."

"I have a few questions to ask them. If there are any contacts, bring the ship to red alert, but do not fire unless fired on. You have the conn."

"Ma'am." That had shocked him.

"I've got a gut feeling here, "she whispered to him, "and I hope to god I'm wrong."

He nodded and took up her position in the command chair once she got up to leave.

The two men were standing to attention when she entered her office. She didn't know why but her stomach felt as if it was tying itself into knots. She'd looked over the report about the coolant failure and it seemed satisfactory but she could help the feeling that the coolant failure and this hit on the jump gate might be connected.

Ivanova liked chief engineer Brook. He ran the engine room with efficiency. He would give you the straight facts if you needed them. He was one of those 'say what he likes and likes what he damn well says' kind of people, but always knew when to draw the line with the chain of command. For him, to be arguing with Davidson meant that it must have been important.

However, there was always something about his Deputy that she didn't like. Chapman was his name and he was an obnoxious character. He'd been on the opposite side of the war to her, but is demeanour was shifty. She found she could not always trust what he said, always seemed to be making excuses about what was wrong and never took responsibility for himself.

"Gyro Failures!", she said while walking round to behind her desk, "I want you opinions about it."

The communication screen changed the operational status to yellow alert.

"All hands. Yellow Alert. Repeat All Hands. Yellow Alert"

All Brook did was raise his eyebrows. Chapman seemed to flinch. Ivanova reached into her desk for her firearm. Regulations stipulated that when a yellow alert or greater was called, all line officers were to carry firearms. Brook and Chapman were engineering officers, not line officers. She put the PGG into her holster and armed the weapon.

"What are the possibilities of sabotage?" She asked.

No sooner than she'd said it, she felt something brush her mind. She'd only that kind of feeling when her mother used to try and find out whether she lying. Someone had just tried to scan her. She reached for her firearm when Chapman jumped at her, knocking the gun from her hand and clasping a hand round her throat.

Brook grabbed Chapman, trying to break his grip.

"What are you doing man?" he was shouting.

Ivanova began to see spots before her eyes. Chapman looked like a man possessed, his eyes were wide open, he was gritting his teeth and there seemed to be drool coming from the side of his mouth. She couldn't break that iron grip and knew that she would pass out if she couldn't do something pretty quickly.

Brook gave up trying to break the grip and went for the gun on the floor instead. Chapman kicked at him, knocking him to the other side of the floor. That was the break she needed, his grip eased when he kicked. She pulled back and out of his hands. Chapman turned his attention back to her but it was too late. She punched him and then when he fell back a bit, let loose with a kick to the head. He fell to the floor.

Brook recovered from and picked up the gun.

"Chapman, you're under arrest." He said point the gun at him

Chapman got up and threw himself at Ivanova. There was a PCG Shot.

"Alert! PGG fired in the Captain's Office." The computer announced.

Chapman was in a crumpled heap on the floor. Ivanova staggered back.

"Security and Medic to the Captain's Office." She said into her link.

He turned her attention to the shaking engineer, "Brook, you all right?"

"No." he said as he lowered the gun, "First time I've fired one of those things."

He put the gun down on the desk and looked at Chapman's body. The shot had been fatal.

"I've served with him for two years. He's been acting strangely since he we both were assigned from the Achilles."

"Captain." That was Davidson's voice from outside the Office.

Ivanova opened the door. The Medic rushed to Chapman. Davidson took in the scene and grimaced. He had authority here. It was his call to make a judgement when the Captain was involved in a situation like this. If he wasn't loyal to Ivanova, then he could use this as an opportunity to take command, and there wouldn't be a thing she could do according to regulations.

"Computer, replay camera CO1" he ordered.

Davidson watched the pictures unfold and at the end of the sequence he nodded.

"Well, that's seems straight forward Captain." He said, "Why did you reach for your gun though? "

"I heard his voice in my head." She said, it was close enough to the truth.

Davidson looked down at Chapman. "Telepathic eh?"

He pointed at a security guard. "You take the body down to sickbay and ask the doctor to prepare for an autopsy." He turned his attention back to Ivanova.

"Ma'am we await your orders."

Davidson had just stood by her. He walked over and handed her the PGG. She looked at Brook and her first Officer.

"Brook, get yourself down to medical, make sure you're alright and then get back to Engineering. Davidson…."

Ivanova's link bleeped.

"Ivanova. Go."

"Ma'am, we have four contacts approaching, high speed."

"Red Alert." She ordered, "Brook, get to medical. Stat."

Everybody spilled out of the office.

* * *

Ivanova and Davidsonarrived on the bridge, out of breath from the quick sprint. The tactical displays showed four incoming ships on an attack vector which the computer identified them as White Stars. There was no cover and Warlock normally wouldn't be able to take four white stars on at once.

"Estimated time till they're in range is two minutes." said the gunnery officer.

"Let me look at the formation."

The holographic display showed the four incoming ships. They were not approaching in standard Ranger fashion and they were the wrong colour. A white star is normally blue, these were darker, almost black. In fact, she didn't think that they were rangers on board at all because she knew it would be a sight of honour if they didn't get an approach exactly right. They were far too close together. She labelled them in the display A to D left to right in the display.

"Are they here to help?" Davidson asked.

"No, that's not a standard White Star formation." She replied, "I don't think they're on our side. Batteries one and two fix on target B, Batteries three and four fix on target C. Helm, flank speed. Rear weapons fire at Target C when you see it."

Davidson smiled.

"Something amusing Mr Davidson?"

"Just appreciating the irony of you facing these ships ma'am."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I appreciate it as well, but I'll appreciate it better, once this is over."

"Communications, send this code." She reeled off some numbers.

"One minute to range."

"Captain, no response."

"Wait for my order to fire."

She could feel the Warlock begin to move under her feet as the engines came up to full strength. She could feel the whole bridge crew tense, as the counter counted down. The enhanced displays showed the various states, and distance, of the enemy. If they were ranger's they would have known that abort code. Just because she was no longer on B5, she still kept up to speed on that organisation was up to.

"Energy Spike." The call came from navigation.

"Hold fire." ordered Ivanova, "They're firing too early."

There was no way that Warlock could take all of them by itself. She knew she would have to launch her fighters just to distract one or maybe two of those ships. It's just that the pilots were so inexperienced.

"Prepare to launch both squadrons, on my mark. They're target is Bogie D."

"Yes Ma'am."

All four White Stars unleashed a withering barrage of light towards the Warlock.

"Interceptor batteries fire." She ordered.

"Interceptors firing."

The front of the Warlock exploded with light as the interceptors hit all the incoming missiles. The beam weapons from all of White Stars went wide. Ivanova felt herself smile.

"Nope, these guys are not rangers. " She said. "All batteries fire and launch fighters. Helm, follow Bogie B."

The Warlock's main guns opened up. The new plasma weapons fired, electric blue streams of light, missing Bogie C, but laying into bogie B. The hit White Star buckled, it's left wing giving way with a bright yellow flash. It started to spin. The fighters began to stream out of the front of the Warlock. She didn't expect them to do any damage but if one of the enemies could be distracted, that would be one less to worry about.

"Rear weapons firing at Bogie C. Front weapons recharging. Online in 5 Seconds" reported the Gunner, " Minor damage on C"

_Damn,_ thought Ivanova. _I didn't want that to happen. Still One down, three to go._

That was the problem with fighting a white star, if you hit it and disabled, or destroyed it, with one hit then that was it. If you only hit it lightly, it's organic hull compound re-adjusted itself to defend against the weapons that you'd hit it with. Thus your next salvo you do even less damage than before.

"Recalibrate All forward weapons to a different frequency." She ordered.

"Captain, that will take thirty seconds." replied Davidson

"Do It. Otherwise our weapons are no good. Gunnery, lock a magnetic pulse on Bogie B and bring it in close to us. Helm bring us about 180."

A bright white blue beam lanced out from the front of her ship and attached itself onto the badly damaged White Star. As the Warlock began to turn, the damaged ship was pulled in front of the docking bay and pulled in. It was held there, as the warlock completed it's turn and held out in front like a battering ram.

The other white stars had completed a quick turn and were already on their way back. They had turned a lot faster. One seemed to break off as the star fury and thunderbolt squadrons hit it. The other two fired again hitting the captured White Star and complete vaporised it. However, that left the Warlock unscathed. The two ships flew straight passed.

"Rear batteries Fire." Ordered Ivanova, "helm 180 yaw now."

The rear batteries hit another glancing blow against Bogie C, but did no visible damage. This was turning into a jousting match. Each set of opponents turning they're metal horse around and returning for another strike.

_They'll just wear us down that way._ She thought

"Weapon's Recalibrated." Reported Davidson.

"Lock Forward Weapons on Bogie C, Rear Weapons Lock on Bogie A."

The warlock completed her manoeuvre, to see the two other ships bearing down on her. They all fired simultaneously. Target C crumpled under the weight of firepower and blew itself apart. However, the Warlock shook under the many impacts. The lights dimmed as the power systems re-routed themselves. Bogie A passed the ship incredibly close as the rear batteries opened up hitting it in the Engines. It was hit amidships and in the port engine blowing itself off.

"That's two. What's the status of our Squadrons?"

"They report a number of passes but no real damage as yet. "

"Captain, Engineering here, We've lost main power. We can give you manoeuvring thrusters and weapons or Main Engines. " Brooks voice was urgent, "Can't give you it all captain."

"Weapons and Manoeuvre Mr Brook." She replied, " Lock weapons on remaining ships and fire."

The warlock's weapons fired in all directions. The spinning White Star expanded in a ball of light and then vanished. The remaining White Star seemed to be hit quite badly but turned away from its pursers and headed straight for the Warlock.

"I want that ship blown out of the sky now." She shouted.

There was a devastating volley of fire from the fighter squadrons and small hit followed small hit. But still the ship kept on coming. The Warlock fired a couple of its main batteries, clipping it. Then the fighters fired again. The White Star blew apart, showering the Warlock with a large amount of wreckage.

In retrospect, it seemed obvious to Ivanova. The white star's hull would have been readjusting to the Warlock's weapons, making it vulnerable to the fighter's armaments. The Warlock's lights dimmed.

"Damage Report." She asked.

"Engineering here. We've lost main power and we've got about ten minutes before we loose Auxiliary power. We've going to loose gravity, weapons and life support. "

"If we suit up. Can you fix it? "

"I could probably get life support back in a couple of hours." Brook replied

"Thank you. Mr Brook." She said, "Mr Davidson. I want emergency decompression procedure. Ship wide now."

"Aye, Ma'am. You first captain. " Replied Davidson, "I insist."

She was just about to head to the Suit Locker, when the speaker's blared out.

"We've just lost Coolant, the Reactor is overlo…" it cut off.

Ivanova felt her self being lifted up into the air. Davidson had just picked her up and thrown her in the bridge life pod. As she was recovering from that she heard the clunk of two items being thrown in as well and the sound of the life pod door closing. She staggered to her feet to see the door finally close and then was thrown back by the sudden acceleration of pod.

Thirty Seconds later the pods engines stopped firing. She felt the G-force lesson and she clambered her way to the viewport. She could see the warlock as a small dot in the distance. There were small lights that Ivanova guessed must be other escape pods or they could be shipboard fires. There was a sudden flash of light as the Warlock exploded.

Ivanova screamed in denial, as her ship was no more.


	6. Chapter 6

Douglas stalked the bridge. It was not his watch but he could not sit in his cabin. He completed his report and had sent it off to admiralty. He imagined the shock waves that would flow through the government. The prisoner, Lennier, had been very co-operative so far. None of crew could find fault with he'd said. Earth had not perished in the Earth-Minbari War.

Even Smith seemed satisfied. Douglas had made his report available to his second. He didn't know if it would help the turmoil that Smith was being put through, but he felt that Smith ought to know. It seemed incredible, the events on this EA Station – Babylon-5. First standing against a corrupt president, caught between a war of two huge powers and then uniting the galaxy into a relatively peaceful place. The problem was these ships that he'd been fighting against were supposed to be this Alliance's peacekeepers or policemen.

The prisoner thought that they were acting out of character. These Rangers were supposed to use Minbari tactics. Douglas knew that they weren't fighting as Minbari, so the logical proposition seemed to be that Rangers did not fly these ships. Also Lennier had kept a few details from him. It was something about his relationship with this Delenn and Sheridan, and it seemed to be very personal. Not hate, another negative emotion that Douglas could not put his finger on. He had time to figure it out.

Douglas looked around the bridge. It was Kelly's watch. That was another complication; he had always kept her close because he was very fond of her. His feelings were a lot stronger than just fondness but it was not proper for two officers on the same ship to be in a relationship. Too many accusations of favouritism could arise. Anyway she might reject those feelings and then that would be that. He only hoped that his shields were strong enough to stop her picking these emotions up.

"We have an incoming transmission Captain. Coded FYEO" she said her tone as cool as ever.

"Thank you Ms. Kelly." He made sure his tone matched hers and called up the document.

He glanced over the orders.

_You are ordered to take Ark Royal to the alpha one Le-grange point. You will then take on supplies from the transport 'Cobra III'. Dreadnought and Hibernia will provide escort for you. After re-supply, Ark Royal will fire her jump engines in an effort to contact this Alliance and discover the cause of these attacks._

_Easier said than done, _he thought as he continued reading the document

_You are to use any means necessary to contact this Interstellar Alliance and find out their engagement rules._ Admiral Bentley who was the chief of fleet operations at Portsmouth Station signed it

. The statement 'any means necessary' gave Douglas a lot of options. He pondered on this for a moment.

"Ms. Kelly. " he said, "Could you please call Clanwellin and Smith to the bridge? "

She smiled and then turned to her station. Douglas glanced over at her. Long red hair, which was tied back at the moment, a flawless face with and impish smile, you couldn't help be attracted to her. It was, however, her defiant, fiery personality, the very disdain for authority that got her into so much trouble, that Douglas found so appealing. It had never been directed at him but if there was a rule that could be bent or broken, it seemed that Kelly made it her job to break it.

The other two arrived. Clanwellin looked very tired having only finished his watch. Douglas ordered them to their stations and put the ship on yellow alert.

"Mr Clanwellin. Would you go to the brig and bring Mr. Lennier to the bridge. As of this moment he is to be no longer considered a prisoner, but a guest and hopefully a consultant."

Clanwellin left the Bridge. Smith glared at Douglas.

"Captain Clay's going to be pissed that he missed this one." commented Kelly.

"Belay that Ms Kelly. I'm sure he would act the same way in this situation."

"Yeah Right." She muttered. Her sarcasm was overpowering.

"He would have walked that Lennier right out the airlock, after he'd finished with him."

"Ms Kelly, It's a good job I'm having a problem with my hearing because I almost heard something that you get you another demerit."

She smiled. She knew he was bending the rules for her, the trick was not letting her get away with too much. The door opened and Lennier walked in followed by a nervous looking Clanwellin.

"Lennier would you take a seat here next to me. I take it Mr. Clanwellin has explained your situation."

Lennier nodded and asked, "Does that mean I'm free to go?"

"Yes, but this is the Commonwealth. You might have gathered that most people will act with hostility to you at best. It's also a completely closed system. No Commonwealth ship has ever."

"You don't have jump technology?" asked Lennier.

"We do, but we don't use it because…" He paused, "I'll explain later, right now I'd rather have your co-operation that try to threaten you."

"I see. " said Lennier, "Co-operation with what?"

"I've been authorised to leave the Quad–system and contact the alliance to find out why your white-stars are shooting at us. So far there's been nothing we can't handle but you never know."

"I can't contact Sheridan or Delenn directly." Lennier replied.

"I see, that's your little problem is it?"

A flash of anger crossed the minbari's face before he regained his composure.

"Did you scan me?" he asked.

Douglas took a deep breath. He had to gain this Alien's trust. Normally that meant honesty, but with a minbari he didn't know if that was the correct way to gain his confidence. He made his decision.

"Yes. It was only a light scan. To find out if you were telling the truth. If you have millions of people threatened, I doubt if you'd take the chance either."

The Minbari considered this.

"Yes, that's my problem. If I approach them, I will be punished, maybe severely. I cannot until I've done something to remedy that."

"Is there anyway to contact them, without compromising yourself?"

"Yes, I could contact either Mr Garabaldi or Captain Ivanova. I'd recommend contacting Ivanova. She's likely to have the most influence with both Sheridan and Delenn."

Lennier continued to stare at Douglas.

"You mentioned someone during the interviews." confided Douglas, "Marcus Cole and I used to work in Earth Alliance intelligence before I got shipped out on cruisers. He was a decent enough chap, if a bit morbid. I'm a bit surprised that he fell for this Ivanova."

"Why?" Lennier looked surprised at the mention of Marcus Cole's name.

"I thought he was gay." replied Douglas.

"Incoming craft." announced Clanwellin.

With a slight flash, two more corvettes appeared. It was the Dreadnought and the Hibernia. Both ships had distinguished themselves in the trouble they had a few years back and were regarded as the best the commonwealth had to offer. Clay might be disappointed about the fact he, Douglas, was going out on first contact. The small communication frame appeared in the top left corner of the command workstation's screen. Both Clay and Seafort reported in.

"Good evening Gentlemen." greeted Douglas.

"I see you have your prisoner there." said Clay. The hate in his voice was hammering.

"Captain Clay. I'm convinced that Mr Lennier here is on our side for the moment. I'd like you to consider him a guest of the Commonwealth."

"That's your prerogative, Douglas. But on my ship…" He left the threat hanging.

"We await your orders, Captain Douglas." interrupted Seafort diplomatically.

Seafort was a lot younger than both Douglas and Clay, the youngest man ever to captain a vessel. His was the face that the recruitment posters used. Kelly used to fantasise about him until she met him in person, a few months ago. He'd lost his wife not long ago and was quite offended by her attempts at flirting, much to Douglas' relief.

There was awkward moment where Clay fought for control.

"We're to escort you to the Le-grange point, where you will take on supplies and then jump." Clay confirmed.

"Very Well, Prepare for LDS."

"Way-point calculated and transmitted." confirmed Smith.

"Engage." ordered Douglas.

"LDS?" asked Lennier

"The linear displacement system. It allows the ship to travel at up to a…" he paused, "Well, a very high speed in normal space. Very useful when you've got to fly around the quad system."

"I can see that, I didn't even feel the acceleration."

"We're full of suprises, Mr Lennier."

"ETA Ten minutes." Announced Smith.

"Can I ask you something captain?" queried Lennier

"You want some history or background on us?"

"Are you constantly scanning me?"

"Not intentionally, your thoughts are hard to shield against when strong emotion is involved. Like when I mention Sheridan for instance, there is always something there."

"I shall endeavour to keep my emotions more restrained if it causes you pain." said Lennier.

Douglas smiled, he found himself actually liking this Minbari, this enemy. He had the kind of no-nonsense personality that he liked in his crew.

"There isn't pain Lennier." He said, "Both Myself and Mr Smith there, served in Earth-force during the war. Both of us could have been described as spies for the Psi-corp. Anyway, from your description of the Battle of the Line, it was your impression that this was a last stand?"

Lennier nodded.

"Well, there was a contingency plan. A lot of the telepaths, ranging from lowest Blip to a highest Psi-Cop, some remarkable scientists and some elite troops, disappeared while the battle progressed. We were told that the order came from the president, but these days I doubt it. We all packed into some Narn transports that we 'borrowed' and off we went. A year later we discovered this, our new home.

"The Quad system. Well, it was when we got here. Ironically, most of the refugees where descended from the British Isles, so we split up into the old home nations, Irish, English, Scots and Welsh. Each settled on a different planet, formed the Commonwealth. We then prepared ourselves for discovery by the Minbari."

"Nothing unites more than a common enemy." He added.

"And you've been waiting for the twenty years ever since." finished Lennier.

"Yes. We've had our successes over time. Our warships are vastly more powerful and manoeuvrable that the old Earth Alliance clunkers were. We have worked out how to enhance Psi. Abilities and we are still a fully fledge democracy. "

"But it's not been all good?" asked Lennier.

"No. Ten years ago, we lost New Ireland. Parliament had decided to give the Irish descendants the first choice of the habitual planets in the system. They choose their planet and everything seemed fine, until someone discovered that the planet itself was unstable. It ripped apart within two years and we had to evacuate thousands. We called it green glow because of the colour of the remains of the planet."

Lennier tried to change the subject. It was obvious to him that this seemed to cause Douglas pain.

"I will do my best to assist you." He said, "But I can't be found by any of the Rangers, not until I've done something worthy of them."

Smith motioned for the Douglas to come forward. Douglas locked his workstation and clambered through the cramped bridge.

"He seems fine Sir." Smith whispered, "Although as your first officer, I'd like to say that you shouldn't be telling him so much about us."

"I need his co-operation Smith." Douglas's voice had an edge to it, "Most of those things he probably would have worked out through observation anyway."

"Maybe Sir, but my objection still stands." Smith's voice matched Douglas.

"It's noted. Is that all?" snapped Douglas.

"Yes Sir."

Douglas made his way back to his workstation. He'd noticed Lennier watching him all the way.

"Reverting to thruster power." announced Smith.

Ark Royal shook as the stars on the view screen reverted back to small dots. A couple of seconds later along side were both Dreadnought and Hibernia. Ahead was the large transport vessel 'Cobra III'. At six hundred metres long, it was twice the size of a corvette. Three long cylinders held in a triangular formation, with a stubby little bridge at one end and huge engines at the other.

"Cobra III to Ark Royal" blared the speakers, "Please dock so we can unload supplies. We don't want to be here a minute longer than we have to."

Douglas couldn't really blame them for not wanting to stay long.

"Acknowledged Cobra III." he replied and then looked at Smith, "Mr Smith. Docking Manoeuvres with Cobra III, if you please."

"Aye aye Sir."

Smith's hands guided the ship close to the dorsal of the Cobra. He was an excellent pilot in all the disciplines, but docking was his speciality. He seemed to have a feel for the ship and the vectors required to pull the right type of turn. There was a small bump and Ark Royal had docked with the Cobra. Douglas had been there when he managed to dock Ark Royal to Southampton station, manually.

It had been through that trouble five years ago. The black ships had come. These ships didn't attempt to communicate. They just attacked. Southampton station, the Navy's headquarters, had come under attack and Ark Royal had come in to evacuate the non-essential personnel. He still remembered it, as that day was burnt on his mind.

They'd lost the Telstar and the Glasgow. The three other corvettes, Hibernia, Dreadnought and the Tripoli, were harrying the first of eight of these massive black ships. Douglas had given the order to dock and Smith just flew in and killed velocity. There was a small bump and then they were docked. They took on their share of people and then broke free and ran. Hibernia and Dreadnought ran with them but Tripoli didn't make it. A black ship winged her and while she tried to regain control, another black ship fired and that was that.

At that point three of the new Bastille class destroyers dropped out of L.D.S. and piled in with every weapon they had and took out the lead two ships. The other black ships just hung there as if unable to move. Clay ordered the corvettes to counterattack and between them they took out another three. The others tried to make a run for it. You could see them attempting to move but they seemed to be held in place. The destroyers finished them off with their missiles. It turned out they were very susceptible to telepathic jamming. Ark Royal had lost her best gunner that day, but thankfully, not long after that the black ships stopped coming.

It wasn't until after the battle that Douglas realised that Smith had not used the docking computers. Not only that, he'd docked faster and safer than the machine ever did.

"Sir!" Clanwellin brought Douglas's attention the to present, "We have six contacts approaching, echo profile suggest more of those White Stars."

"Alert the Fleet." Douglas ordered, "Bring us to Red Alert."

Douglas swore quietly under his breath. Ark Royal could do nothing while being re-supplied, even the PBCs was offline. It was up to Hibernia and Dreadnought. He watched tensely on the command workstation as the Bogies and corvettes exchanged fire. There were two quick explosions as two of the white stars disappeared from the scope, however after that the situation seemed to deteriorate. Both commonwealth ships were hitting their targets but not doing any damage. Hibernia was being heavily hit. Douglas watched her shield levels fall.

"How long until we can join the fight?" Douglas asked Kelly.

"Not a chance sir. It's another ten minutes until we can break." She replied, tension evident in her voice.

There was a flash.

"Oh my God! Hibernia's down." called Clanwellin.

"Survivors?" Douglas asked

There were some tense moments.

"Sir we have one pasty and one BS on scope. They have life signs."

"Captain Douglas?" ask Lennier

Douglas turned his attention to the Minbari.

"White Star vessels have an organic hull, which rearranges itself to the energy signature of an energy hit."

Douglas immediately called Dreadnought.

"I'm busy." Clay's voice was calm but you could hear simmering anger beneath it.

"Clay, Cycle the PBC Freq. don't use the same freq. twice. Use missiles."

Clay terminated the connection. Douglas continued to watch the screen. Dreadnought danced about like a startled bird and then there was another explosion.

"Dreadnought?" asked Kelly, who didn't have access to the external scanners.

"No. That was a White Star." replied Clanwellin.

There was another explosion.

"There goes another one." said Smith.

The two remaining white stars seemed overmatched as the Dreadnought bore down on them. It weaved in and out of their shots and then the commonwealth ship fired again. There was another explosion.

"He is very good." observed Lennier.

"Whatever you say about the man," Said Douglas, as the remaining White Star crumbled under a hail of missiles, "He is the best there is."

"Hibernia's survivors reporting in." said Smith, "Seafort and half his crew made it out. "

Clay's face appeared on the command workstation.

"Excellent analysis Douglas. I thought we're getting close on this one."

"That information came from our guest here." replied Douglas.

Clay's image focused on Lennier. He waited a few seconds.

"I don't trust you and I don't like Minbari." He said, "But that saved my ship."

There was another longer pause.

"Thank you." He cut the connection.

"Well, that's a first." observed Kelly.

"Zip it Kelly." Douglas snapped, "You don't take the piss out of someone who just saved your life."

Kelly shrugged as if that meant nothing to her, turned and focused back on her screen.

"Still," He said under his breath to Lennier, "It must have hurt to say it."


	7. Chapter 7

Delenn paced the bridge of White Star 2. She was getting impatient. Normally just that made her angry, but add to that the frustration she was feeling and she was working her way into a full-blown fury. Over the last few days they'd lost most of the task force. The exasperating thing was they didn't know whom to. Ships didn't report in and when they arrived in the appropriate system, there was no sign of them. There was no wreckage, beacons or even engine emission traces.

At first they lost a couple of ships, so she had ordered them to travel in pairs. Then they stared loosing pairs. So again, she ordered another double up to four ships in each patrol. Then the four-ship formations went missing. The unknown opposition was good. The ships were just missing. She was down to her last flight of four white star ships out of a fleet of thirty.

The only good sign was that the ships weren't being destroyed. It was like an area on Earth that John explained to her once, the Bermuda triangle where aircraft and surface ships would disappear without trace. Other ships had passed through this sector without problem. It seemed that when a white star flew through this area, it disappeared.

Delenn continued to pace going over the situation in her mind. She reasoned that it must be something about the white stars that made them a target. The obvious answer was because the ships were the Alliance's ships, but maybe there was another thing about them that made the easy to capture. Perhaps to their adversary, this was the only ship they could capture.

She shook her head away. She made her mind up that they were being targeted because if the Alliance and not because of the type of ship. White stars were the only ships available exclusively to the Alliance. That was until the new victory class destroyers came on line. According to Mr. Garibaldi, those ships were at least a year away from completion but once build they would be a powerful addition to the fleet.

"Delenn."

The Minbari ranger at the engineering had walked up to her. Delenn had asked all the crew not to use her title while addressing her. She stopped her pacing and turned to face him. He looked young for a Minbari and probably just finished his training. He reminded her so much of Lennier when he'd first joined her as her aid when she was the ambassador to Babylon 5. She pushed the thought away with a grimace and focused on the present.

"Yes, Saran"

"We're picking some thruster emissions not far away."

"Are they White Stars?" She asked.

"We can't tell at this distance." he replied.

"Set courser for the emissions but put the flight on alert."

Saran gave a small bow and walked back to the engineering console. Delenn took a deep cleansing breath and sat down in the captain's chair. It was either the missing White Stars or the reason why they were missing in the first place. She asked for a tactical display. There were just emissions but no ships. As her flight got closer they saw one White Star, only the colour was wrong. It was black.

"In Valen's Name." Breathed Saran. "What have they done to it?"

At that moment, it must have detected Delenn's flight and moved off at full burn.

"Follow it." She ordered.

Delenn's ship began to pick up speed. Then it happened. Another ship just appeared right in front of them.

"Hard Over." She called.

Her white star pulled straight up and she could feel the force of the manoeuvre even as the artificial gravity tried to adjust. The huge ship fired a blue projectile at one of the flight, hitting it amidships. That White Star flashed blue and drifted. More projectiles were fired.

"Evasive." She called but before anything could be done they'd been hit.

She was expecting some kind of explosion but there wasn't anything of the sort. The ship's consoles and displays flashed slightly brighter than usual and then darkened. She felt the engines switch themselves off and the ship began to drift. With no power coming from the engines, the artificial gravity failed. She found herself floating with the rest of the bridge crew who weren't tied down.

"Is everybody all right?" she asked.

The bridge crew nodded affirmatives whilst looking worried.

"Saran." She called the ranger's attention, "I want you to get a manual status report. See if there is anything we can do."

He nodded and after forcing the door, floated out of the room. Delenn floated to the front view port, hoping to see something. There was another white star in visual range, probably only six to seven Km. off the bow.

The other ship just hung there as a dark shadow passed over it. The ship that had launched the projectiles hovered over it. It was similar to the big shadow vessels that were so terrifying during the Great War. It had the same black organic look, what looked like large spines coming out the back and what looked like two gigantic pincers at the front. The pincers moved and caught hold of the other white star, which made no attempt to move.

It was picked up like a toy and then a cavernous maw opened in the black ship. With horrid fascination, Delenn watched as the white star was pulled inside. Then it was gone and only the black ship remained. Its form wavered and the disappeared. Delenn recognised the way the ship had gone. It was definitely based on shadow technology. Only their ships jumped into hyperspace like that.

"Delenn." The voice came from the communication link, "This is Saran. I think you should come down here. I'm in power plant."

"I'll be right there." She said.

On the power plant wall, there was a black patch where blue should be. It pulsed and glowed. If you watched for a little while you could see it growing, spreading. Saran looked back from it to Delenn.

"It started from the impact point." He said.

Delenn nodded for him to continue.

"It quickly spread to the power point and has managed to shut the reactor down. We've been trying to stop it but…" he paused and pointed to a body covered by a sheet near the wall where the black shape was.

"Valen's Name." Delenn Breathed.

"At least it was quick." Saran continued, "We've lost gravity control, life support and everything except internal communications. Our engineers say even with only strict meditation, our air will last only a few hours, but the cold of space will freeze us long before that. They give half an hour."

Delenn signed. She'd found what she'd been looking for, but at the cost of thirty white stars and her own life. At least John and David were safe, but she was praying that he would not make the same mistake and follow her.

_Half an hour, _She thought, _What could be done in half an hour._

She looked around at the people she'd pulled along with her. They all looked at her as if she was still in control of the situation. Complete faith that she held all the answers. What could she say to them? She tried to think about any possibilities. One flashed through her mind

"Do we have any fighters on board?" she asked.

"Yes Delenn. We have a flight of four." Replied one of the crewmembers

"Can we link the fighter's power plants up to the life support?" she asked.

"I don't know." Replied Saran, "Might take some time."

"You've got less than Half an Hour." Said Delenn.

Saran nodded and pointed at two of the crew.

"You two come with me." He turned back to Delenn, "We'll let you know."

It was the longest half an hour that she'd faced. It was no good hanging around the crew. It might put too much pressure on them. She sat alone, tied into the command chair waiting. There didn't seem to be anything to do but wait. She undid the strap keeping her to the chair and floated to the view ports. Looking out over the various stars and looked longingly out at them.

Delenn noticed there was a black patch in the sky, which blocked out some of the stars. The patch was getting closer. She hit her link.

"Saran. How's that link up?" she asked.

"We're just about to try powering life support." he said.

The lights on the bridge grew brighter and Delenn fell to the floor as the gravity restarted. She quickly clambered to her feet and looked out the view port. She could see that the shape had formed itself into the black ship what had taken the other white star away with it.

"Saran. Is there any change of getting power to the engines?" she asked.

"None. It took us half an hour to link up two fighters to get life support." He replied." We don't have enough for the engines."

Delenn sighed

_It was worth a try. _She was resigned to her fate, _I'll see you where no shadows fall John._

The Black ship hovered over the white star for a few seconds and then grabbed the ship with its two pincers. She could see from the view port, it's huge maw opening and the some blue light shining from within it. It got brighter. The last thing she remembered before passing out was that a White Star's deck is very hard when you fall on it for a second time.


	8. Chapter 8

Ivanova sat in the escape capsule. It had been two days since the Warlock had exploded. She'd left her suit on and plugged it into the life support. That meant that the capsule's life support could be turned off and a SOS message could be sent for longer. It didn't matter to her that she'd be dead a long time before any rescue could come. She lost her ship and she felt it was her responsibility. It should have been her who died not her ship.

She didn't want to look at the counter, which told her how long she had. There wasn't much she could do about it anyway. Even if a ship did come close, she didn't want to know. All that effort gone into getting the crew on her side was lost. All the trial runs and little discoveries of how to get that little bit more power out of the engines was lost. One thousand families who'd had a daughter, son, father or mother had all lost someone. All except hers, there was no one to tell.

There were times when she was feeling alone, that she missed Marcus Cole. He was a pain in the backside for most of the time. Whenever there had been a crisis that involved the pair of them, he had a one liner ready. Not particularly funny, but just enough to take the edge off a situation. He was irritating, annoying and on top of all that, he'd always been there when she needed him.

Then he'd saved her life. She'd been dying in medical lab on B 5. The injuries were too bad and it was only matter of time they'd said. Then Marcus had stormed in, hooked himself up to some kind of healing machine and fixed her. The machine killed him to save her and Dr. Franklin had told her that Marcus knew that the machine would kill him. It was that fact which made it worse.

Ivanova wished that he were here. She could yell at him. Tell him he was the biggest jerk in the galaxy for doing what he did. Tell him to get lost, find his own life. Find someone that would appreciate him, even though deep down she didn't know whether she would want him to. Tell him that if he hadn't of saved her then all those people on the Warlock would still be alive.

If there was no signal soon then she probably meet him soon enough. She'd have to admit to him that she knew about his feelings, about how she felt about him and that always seemed to make her heart shrink. There was bleeping noise from the life support. She slowly turned to switch the alarm off. She'd had no food or water, even though there were emergency rations in the capsule. There didn't seem to be a point. She realised that it was getting hard to catch her breath.

She called up a small report on her stylus. It was a letter she'd been writing to John and Delenn, to Garibaldi, and to Franklin. Looking through it, she'd seen nothing but apology. She felt she'd made a mistake leaving B5. The Warlock was a good substitute but it now felt as if she had run away.

Still she had ended up captaining a ship, her ambition when she joined Earth Force. She knew her father would have been proud. She held onto those thoughts, as her eyelids got heavy. The last thing she could see was her father's face. His expression was the same as just after her mother had died. It was an expression full of sorrow, loss and love. She passed out.

* * *

"I feel sick." Said Clanwellin.

Smith looked back at Douglas and smiled.

"You do know barfing on duty is a serious offence, Ensign." Kelly said, with a slight smile

It was the old hyperspace disorientation. Douglas remembered the first time he'd been through hyperspace. The swirling eddies and currents of energy. There was no focal point of reference so it always felt like you'd had one too many Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters on shore leave. Clanwellin was paler that usual and maybe could looked slightly green. Kelly seemed to be holding up well, probably because she ignored the view port completely. She stared at her screen. Douglas' screen bleeped a warning.

"Lennier. We're approaching the co-ordinates you supplied. However I can't seem to fire up the jump gate. Is there anything else in the system? "

"Yes I believe there are a number of planets in that system."

"Good enough." Muttered Smith.

"Mr Smith, as soon as we're through, fire up the navigation sensors to full and find us a back door."

"Aye, Aye Sir."

"Mr. Clanwellin. You take over Helm functions."

"Transferring Duties. Aye, Aye Sir."

"Transfer to real space." Ordered Douglas.

A hole appeared ahead in hyperspace. Through it you could see the inky dark of space. It felt as if you were falling down a huge whirlpool into oblivion. The Ark Royal shot into real space and came to a full stop. The jump gate looked wrecked.

"At least we know why we couldn't use the jump gate." comment Kelly, "I'm also reading a lot of debris and level's of radiation a lot higher than the norm. Maybe some kind of fight happened here."

Douglas looked at his displays, zooming into some of the wreckage. There seemed to be a lot from the black ships he'd seen and some other type of remains. It looked distinctly Earth Force but he could not be certain.

"That's corrupted White Star debris." Said Lennier pointing to a lot of the debris.

"And that's the remains of a Star Fury." Said Douglas pointing to another part of the battle. "If something had happened here, it looks as if we missed it."

"Captain, I'd estimate that maybe three to four of the black stars and one larger ship had been destroyed here." Reported Kelly. "The larger ship is certainly of Earth origin but I can't put a type to it."

"The Warlock was an experimental vessel and didn't have any support vessels as far as I know." Replied Lennier.

"This Captain Ivanova put up a good fight and probably took them with her so, it looks like we're off to Mars to talk to your Mr.Garabaldi." Said Douglas

Lennier looked shocked at the cold disregard for the incident that had happened here.

"You're not going to look for survivors?" he asked.

"Where could we keep them?" Douglas replied." An old earth force cruiser had hundreds of people aboard. We can't carry that many."

"Sir. The computers will have mapped the system in half an hour." Reported Smith, "We could we look until then?"

Douglas sagged. His orders didn't cover this eventuality but if people were recovered they might start asking questions about where this ship came from and that was against his orders. There was no harm in looking and from the amount of blackened hulk around them; he didn't think there would be any.

"Sir I have one. One Hundred Clicks away."

He ordered Clanwellin to stop one hundred metres from the signal. He called up the pod on the command station's displays. It displayed a standard earth force escape capsule with one life sign aboard. He took pilot-age away from Clanwellin and started the docking manoeuvre himself. He turned Ark Royal slowly to match the Pod's rotation and then fired the belly thrusters. There was a small bump.

"Docking Hatch reports Secure." Replied Clanwellin.

"Smith, You have the conn." He ordered, "Mr Lennier, if you would come with me."

He got up and after gesturing for Lennier to lead, walked off the bridge.

* * *

Ivanova could hear voices and she felt herself slowly falling. She found herself falling down a tunnel with light at the bottom. The voices seemed to get louder the further she fell.

_Perhaps, this is the start of my journey to hell_, she though as she felt herself accelerate, _I've been judged and sentenced for failing._

She tried to will herself, upward away from the noise, but gave up. She felt she'd been pronounced unworthy, why fight it. She fell into the light and then sat up with a gasp. She tried to look around but a wave of nausea hit her and she fell back down onto a bed. She couldn't see anything properly.

"I don't think she'll do that again, Sir." She heard a voice say from behind her.

"I might have to put her back under if she can't handle it." It continued.

"Captain Ivanova." A different voice addressed her, familiar but she couldn't quite place it. "Susan?"

She looked over at source. Her eyes were adjusting to the light and blob she saw in front of her began to rearrange itself into a memorable Minbari face.

"Lennier?"

"Yes."

"Where am I?" She asked, as Lennier seemed spin round the room again.

"You are on the CNV Ark Royal." That was a new voice, with maybe a soft British or Irish accent to it, "Welcome aboard Captain."

He appeared next to Lennier and everything came into focus for a second. He was tall, medium build, blond but it was his eye's that caught her attention. They were a soft deep brown, which seemed to radiate calm. She caught herself and brought her self back to the present. She was in what looked like a small medical bay. There were three people she could see, Lennier, the Brown Eyed man and a small man in a white lab coat.

"Ark Royal?" she found her voice was very weak. Her throat was severely dry.

"I'm sure the captain, here, will answer any of your questions." Said Lennier.

"Lennier, We were attacked by White stars." She said ignoring the man with the brown eyes.

Lennier nodded

"… But they were the wrong colour." She continued, "They were black."

"I know." He said, "I don't know who or why?"

The man in the Lab Coat turned to the brown-eyed man and muttered something she couldn't make out. She turned her attention to the Brown eyed man.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice was getting weaker.

He leant forward.

"Captain Phillip H. Douglas of the Commonwealth Navy. We came looking for you, because of Mr Lennier here. My doctor here informs me that you are suffering from oxygen depravation and de-hydration. "

"Bad?" she asked.

"No, We'll have you sorted a few hours." Said the man in the Coat, "but you'll have to rest until then."

"Reactor failure… Sabotage… " She paused catching her breath, "could have been a possibility."

She passed out again. Douglas looked to the doctor.

"She'll be alright. " he said, "She just needs rest."

Lennier turned to Douglas, "I'll watch over her. It will be better if there is a familiar face."

* * *

Douglas returned to the bridge. The ship had been at yellow alert for six hours. The crew would be beginning to tire. Smith was the only one on the Bridge. Kelly and Clanwellin would be off in their bunks getting some well-deserved rest. Smith did not turn to him once he walked in.

"Sir." His tone was still formal, "I've got the systems position and plotted the Le-grange points. We have three in system and all seem clear."

"Very Well." replied Douglas, "Set course for the nearest and go to LDS."

"Aye Aye Sir."

Douglas sat in his seat. Ark Royal started to turn in space and once lined up, shot forward. Douglas once again marvelled at his ship. Ark Royal had three types of drive. The thrusters, which moved the ship like the old earth force cruisers used to. The LDS, or Linear Displacement System, which allowed her to speed at almost a third of the speed of light, a lot faster than most of the other ships he had seen.

The best of all was the Jump Drive. No other ships he had seen had a jump engine this small, apart from those White Stars. It did, however, come with limitations. The jump engine could only be used at a Le-grange point, an area of null or very low gravity. They normally existed between a planet and it's moon or a sun and it's planets. If Ark Royal jumped into a system that existed of only a star then, unless there would be a jump gate, she'd be marooned. They'd have to call in a jump ship, which consisted of one of the old transports from the days of the exodus. It would take on several smaller ships and jump back.

There were other advantages to this system. They had found, they could instantly jump from one Le-grange point to another in the same system, which was why they were so successful against the Black ships. If it wasn't for the fact that they could get their small, but powerful, fleet from one side of the Quad System to the other quickly, the outcome could have been very different.

"Sir, have you seen what ordinance we've been given?" Smith broke Douglas out of his train of thought.

"No. I haven't really had time." He replied.

"You should have seen Clanwellin's face." Smith's tone was light, although he was still staring straight ahead, with his back to Douglas, "He must have thought it was Christmas or something."

"Let's have a look then." Said Douglas and called up the manifest.

"Sweet Jesus! " He exclaimed.

"That's what I thought Sir." replied Smith, "Kelly's installed the new Plasma Beam Cannons. We have two forward and 2 aft. The crystals are rated 7.5 instead of 5."

"That's equivalent of three normal PBCs." Douglas was astonished.

"That's not all." Smith continued, "We have 32 homing missiles, 8 remote missiles, 14 disrupters, 32 flares and 4 tactical mines."

Douglas looked at Smith with a smile, "Do you think we've got enough room for the crew?"

"Lennon and his techs must be sucking in Sir."

The atmosphere between the two officers seemed more relaxed. Smith seemed less uptight about the way the mission was going, or it could have been because the Minbari was not present.

"Alex. Can I talk to you for a second?"

Douglas was informal. A signal that, the conversation was going to be off the record. Smith turned round and looked at him.

"Actually, I wanted to apologise. " Smith said.

Douglas looked at him with surprise.

"I will obey orders," he continued, "but I'm having problems with that Minbari on the bridge. I just feel that he's recording everything we're doing."

"I know how you feel and to tell you the truth I have a problem with him as well. I can't forget what we went through in the war but I need his co-operation. Do you think he would have helped us if we'd thrown in the brig? " Replied Douglas.

Smith didn't answer.

"Do you think there's some psi manipulation going on that I haven't picked up on?" Asked Douglas.

"You don't have to be a telepath to be manipulative. " Smith answered back, "But I'm not picking anything up."

"Well, We'll have to assume he's alright until he proves otherwise." Said Douglas, "It's difficult for me, so only god knows how it is for you."

"I'm managing Sir." Smith fell back into formality, "What do you think about those White Stars?"

"Well, based on their performance, we seemed to be evenly matched for manoeuvrability and they are faster than us using thrusters. "

"I've been examining the records of our encounter and I've noticed a few things."

"Go on." Prompted Douglas, when Smith noticed things it was normally important.

"Well, They don't use all their guns. There are three major gun ports that I can make out but they don't use one of them."

"Show me."

On the command workstation, Smith replayed back both the encounters.

"In each case. " Smith pointed out. "The gun ports on the wings could be seen firing but the forward gun stayed silent."

"Any conclusion?" asked Douglas.

"They don't know how to fire them or they're holding something in reserve." Said Smith.

"Our shields have been able to handle it so far, could they handle any more?"

"It would but a severe strain on them sir."

"At least we have shields and they don't. Thanks to Lennier we know their equivalent systems failing."

"Aye sir. Unless he made them blow up some how?"

Smith was still suspicious.

"Secure from Yellow Alert." Ordered Douglas.

"Aye Aye Sir."


	9. Chapter 9

"Delenn!"

"Delenn!" the voice was more urgent.

There seemed to be muttering just beyond her hearing's range like a whisper across an empty room. She could feel herself breathing. She felt something touch her forehead and slowly she opened her eyes.

"Saran?" her voice was strange to herself.

"Yes, Delenn. I'm here."

The first thing that really woke her up was the smell. She found herself lying on a rocky surface, in a dark and stagnant cave. She coughed for a few seconds and then slowly sat up. Beside her were four people, two Minbari and two human. They all wore ranger uniforms in various stages of decay. Saran was one of them.

"We were worried." He said, offering his hand to help her up.

She let herself be pulled up and looked around the little group. Apart from Saran she didn't recognise any of the others, all medium build, average height. They'd probably been selected so they could hide in the background and not get noticed. She took a deep breath and thanked the universe for keeping her alive.

"This is Tahok, Jason and Muttley" Saran introduced the others.

"Muttley?" Delenn's eyebrows rose at such an unusual name.

"My parents were cruel to me." Said the human rangers.

Delenn thought that he probably had seen and heard that reaction so many times it reasoned that he was why he looked that uncomfortable.

"What is the situation?" she asked, immediately taking charge.

"Well, there is almost five hundred of us here." Tahok, the other Minbari, said, "but there is very little food. The first of us were captured and put here a month ago."

"We were lucky in some respect, " continued Jason, "There was someone already here who happens to be hydroponics engineer. He's managed to purify the local water, enough for almost a thousand people, but all we could find to eat were these strange roots."

"Unique in my experience, it actually tastes disgusting to both Minbari and Human," commented Muttley, "but it keeps you living."

Delenn walked out of the cave and looked over a barren surface of the planet. It was if the landscape could not make its mind up between rock and sand with a few scrubs. It was the sky that caught her attention, there were no stars on one side of the sky. And on the other side, was a very dim star, which almost outshone the others. It was if someone had taken a cleaver to the sky.

"What's it like during the day?" Delenn whispered with wonderment.

"Ermm." Tahok cleared his throat, "This is the day. The stars come out more brightly on that side."

"Are we right at the edge of the Galaxy?" Asked Delenn. thinking that this could be the only reason for the sky.

"No." replied Jason, "This is technically a binary system. Although no-one has worked out where we are yet?"

"Binary?" Delenn still sounded confused, "Where's the other star?"

"The other star, " finished Muttley, "is a black hole. You'll be able to see it once the star sets."

Delenn was dumb-founded. She'd never heard of a system like it. It would make an almost perfect prison system. Only ships with enormous thrust to mass ratios could approach the planet, no radio signals could be sent out and the Black Hole would hide the entire system from the star maps.

All Black holes are catalogued and warnings posted around them, so no one would even go looking for them here. Delenn realised they'd been captured for a reason. Whoever their advisory was wanted them alive. It would have been easier to kill the prisoners rather than put them on this planet.

She looked back at the cave where she woke. It was set in a huge cliff face, which towered above her and there were plenty of other caves dotted along the floor of the cliff, as well as higher up. They looked artificial. There were people milling about and she could see that they were either rangers or white star crewmembers.

"Were these caves here as well?" She asked.

"No." said Saran, "One man's been responsible for this. He'll be coming over to join us soon."

"One man?" She asked for confirmation.

"I guess that would be me then." Said a light voice behind her.

She turned round to see the man. He was not tall for a human, about five foot tall. He looked about fifty to Delenn but it was difficult to tell age when humans had beards. He was bald, stocky and wore some round glasses, which covered blue eyes. He didn't wear a ranger's uniform. More like mechanics overalls, with dirt and stains all over.

"Professor Reynolds." introduced Saran.

"Please to meet you Delenn." He said, rubbing his hand on his trousers, "You'll forgive me for not shaking hands but I've been up to my elbows in…"

He looked down at the dirt covered hands and looked back up Delenn, shrugging.

"…Stuff. " he finished with a grin.

"How long have you been here?" she asked.

"Well I got here in 2057 and I think that's almost ten years now. It's so nice to have people to talk to and pretty women to look at." He grinned.

Delenn smiled, taking that to be a complement.

"Explanatory Expeditions sent us into the nebus system. We got attacked and the ship crashed here. " He continued. His eyes seemed to focus away from Delenn as if he was reliving the experience.

"Eight of us got out in an escape pod, the other pod was launched but they got shot down, we got hit and I lost half of the occupants. The crash took care of the other three, leaving me." He sighed, "I suppose I was lucky really. I wouldn't have been able to make it through the first season."

"You managed to do all this?" she asked, gesturing to the caves.

"Hell No. But I've got all the tools from the survival pod." He pointed at the rangers, "Your people have been using them a lot. The only worry I've got is food."

"I'm sure that we can work together to find something." said Delenn.

"No doubt." replied Reynolds, "I only know this valley. Your people have taken to exploring. They might find something."

"I take it that we have no communications." She asked, and saw the others shake their heads.

"I have a communicator but there isn't the power here to boost it past the black hole's influence." Said Reynolds.

"Is there anything we've got to boost it? " Delenn asked Saran.

"I don't know yet." He said, "You'll have to look at it. If Professor Reynolds doesn't mind?"

"Not at all. This way." He gestured.

Saran followed the professor down the hill towards the base of the desolate valley. Delenn looked at the other three rangers. She could tell that each of them was looking to her for ideas. She reasoned that they'd been trying to get a message out or a way off this planet by themselves for weeks but nothing could have been done.

"Saran's good at this kind of thing, " she tried to reassure them, "He was one of the best problem solver and engineer the working caste had to offer before he joined the rangers."

She saw Muttley grimace.

"We haven't all survived, " He said keeping his voice low, "It seems that anybody with a slight idea to get off this rock has died. It's as if the planet chooses who to kill."

"This planet kills?" Delenn tried to keep the astonishment that a ranger would succumb to that kind of thinking, out of her voice.

"Either that or we've had the worst luck in the Galaxy." He said, "Nine of our people have died in Land slides and small earth quakes. Each of them was working on something to send a signal out or get us off the planet."

"The worst was Ranger Terrain." Continued Tahok, "He'd been working on a way to get more power to Reynolds Transmitter. A few nights ago, He woke up left his bed and told me he needed to try something else out and then we found him a few hours later buried under the rock over there."

He pointed to a large rock formation by one of the caves. Delenn looked it over and thought things through. She didn't have John Sheridan's ability to out think opponents and she didn't have Michael Garabldi's detective skills, but she did know that there was a pattern. Garabaldi once said his gut was never wrong and right at this moment, her 'gut' feeling was that these killings might hold an important clue to getting off this planet. Well she didn't have anything else to do for the moment.


	10. Chapter 10

Ivanova slowly opened her eyes and took in a deep breath. Looking around, she could tell that she was lying in the medical bay she remembered from before. The two men she didn't recognise had gone, but sat in the corner was Lennier. He stood up and walked over to the bed she was on.

"Well, you've been through worse." He said.

"You don't look so good yourself." She replied noticing the bruising around his face.

"Where are we?"

"We're on a Commonwealth vessel called Ark Royal." He answered.

"Commonwealth?"

"It seems that they're a lost colony of human telepaths."

"Lost!" Ivanova could not control her astonishment in her voice, "But the Psi-corp wouldn't loose a single telepath, let alone a whole system of them."

"They were sent away during the Battle of the Line and didn't know of the Minbari Surrender." explained Lennier. "The man you met, Captain Douglas, was there at the time."

"So they think Earth was destroyed?" she asked.

"They have grown into quite a large colony, full of telepaths. They also seem to have developed ships that at least match a white star's abilities. "

"Lennier, if it was anyone else but you, I'd think you were space happy." She commented.

The Minbari appeared a little taken aback by that remark.

Ivanova's expression turned urgent.

"White Stars." She said, "They attacked us. Only the colour and the tactics were all wrong."

"Yes, they have been attacking our hosts as well, but they're not being used to their full potential." Lennier tried to calm her, "Captain Douglas's mission is to stop this. They need you to inform Sheridan of the situation. I can't."

"Lennier, what happened?" she asked. "One minute I hear that your part of Delenn's honour guard, next there is an Alliance wide alert for you. "

Lennier looked away and Ivanova could tell he was trying not to let some emotion cover his expression.

"I don't want to talk about it." He said, "But can I have your word that you won't tell anybody I'm here? I have something I need to know before I can go back."

Ivanova nodded. There had always been tension between Lennier and Sheridan. Mostly over Delenn, Ivanova had guessed. This was a different Lennier to the one she remembered. He gained a brooding side to his personality and he seemed more withdrawn than the helpful, and sometimes a little naïve, Minbari he'd been. He seemed edgy and his eyes always seemed to look at the door every once in a while.

_I suppose four years on the run can do that to you. _ She thought.

"OK. I'll help." She said, "However, I will tell Sheridan once this is over, so you need to be gone by then."

Lennier smiled and looked a little relieved.

"Can you tell me anything about these hosts of ours? " She asked, changing the subject.

"Well not much. Perhaps Captain Douglas could explain more. I don't know how to call him?"

"Captain Ivanova?" A voice said from behind Lennier.

She sat up to see past the minbari. The brown-eyed man walked into the room. He was wearing a dark blue uniform, with three gold bands around the sleeve of the jacket. He walked straight up to the bed.

"Captain P.H. Douglas." He introduced himself again and stuck his hand out in greeting. Ivanova looked at it and then at him.

"Lennier says that you are a telepath." She said.

The hand was withdrawn.

"I don't mean to scan you. If I wanted to that I wouldn't need to touch you." He said, "It was just a gesture of greeting."

Ivanova noted that his attitude had cooled.

"I didn't mean to offend you." She said.

"I didn't mean to frighten you." He said, "However, I still did. I'd forgotten that kind of reaction."

"Lennier says that you need my help to talk to Sheridan. It seems that we have been attacked by the same advisory."

"That's if you'll co-operate." He said, "Otherwise we'll drop you off and try some other way."

"I have to report in." She replied. "I've just lost my ship and her crew. Earth dome has to know otherwise…"

"I understand." replied Douglas. "We did run a scan for survivors after we picked you up."

Hope stirred in Ivanova. "And?"

"Sorry. Yours was the only intact life pod we found." He said, "If it's any consolation, they took out their hostiles. We counted four Blackstars."

"Blackstars?" Ivanova asked.

"Their nickname." Douglas explained, "As Lennier has explained to us, normal White Stars are white blue in colour. These ships, although the same shape, are black to navy blue. "

"My crew performed above the call of duty." she said. "Their families must know what happened."

She started to get up and would have fallen straight to the deck if Douglas and Lennier hadn't grabbed her.

"Your suffering from exhaustion and a lack of food and water." explained Douglas.

"You should rest and regain your strength." said Lennier.

"I don't want to be nannied." growled Ivanova.

"He wasn't nannying, " replied Douglas, "just concerned. But we have extra supplies and a spare cabin for you. You can rest there. I'll order the ship to set course for the nearest Earth Alliance outpost and we'll take it from there."

She nodded. At that point another man walked through the door. He wore a similar uniform but with only one gold ring around the jacket sleeve. Not as tall, wiry and with heavily gelled hair, he came to stand at attention as soon as he was through the door.

"Ensign. Take Captain Ivanova to Guest Cabin 2 and then report back to the bridge."

"Aye Aye Sir." He said, "This way Ma'am."

Ivanova struggled to get to her feet and followed the man out of the door.

"I seen what you mean about feisty." observed Douglas.

"Yes, She doesn't let much get to her." replied Lennier.

Ivanova let herself be guided down the various cramped corridors until the young man came to a halt by a door. The door opened and he stood aside to let her in and came to attention. She peered in. It was a small cabin by the standards she was used to. Two metres by four, with a bed on one side, a wardrobe and a dresser and small computer like terminal on the other. On the bed was an Earth Force uniform.

"Where did you get this Ensign?" She left the question drag off.

"Clanwellin Ma'am." He replied, "The captain had one made up especially, after you were taken on board."

"I see." Ivanova said.

"And what are your orders?" She continued.

"I've to wait until you're conformable." He confirmed, "Answer any questions you have and if you require, give you a guided tour of the ship. "

He stayed at attention.

"Are all of you Telepathic?" She asked.

"Yes Ma'am."

"Rating?"

"P5 Ma'am"

_He has to touch to read minds _thought Ivanova, _but no-one has tried to read mine yet._

"Ensign, Stand Easy."

Clanwellin relaxed his posture. He reminded her of Lieutenant Colwen on B5. Young, eager to please and looked like a startled rabbit when you gave him an order.

"What do you think of the Psi Corp?" she asked.

"I don't know, I wasn't even born when the exodus happened. I never knew about the corp." he replied, "But the oldsters didn't like it."

"Oldsters?"

"Sorry Ma'am. People who were part of the exodus, everybody at the academy calls them oldsters."

"I see and you've never seen Earth?"

"Only in history books Ma'am."

"How old are you?" She was a little confused to hear her home world being referred to like that.

"Nineteen Ma'am." He said, "This is only my second patrol. Captain Douglas is vastly more experienced than me. As is Commander Smith and Leftenant Kelly."

"Leftenant ?" She noticed the difference in rank title. "That's the same as a Lieutenant right?"

"Yes Ma'am." he replied, with a slight smile, "But not as French."

Ivannova tried not to smile, recalling a similar comment made by Marcus Cole.

"OK Ensign. I'll let you know if I need you."

"Ma'am!"

He saluted and closed the door. She counted to sixty and tried the door. It was unlocked so she locked it. She picked up the uniform and walked over to the cupboard. It was empty. She hung it up and lied down on the bed. She toyed with the idea of having a little unofficial tour of her own but rejected it. They've probably got monitors all over the ship.

It was a strange turn of events. Last week she'd been bored out of her mind, stuck in the shipboard routine which seemed to go on forever. Now her ship was gone, she'd found Lennier and what looked like a lost colony of Earth. It was a lot to take in. The irony was that, last week she was wishing that something exciting would happen.

_May you live in interesting times. _She thought.

She'd grieved in the lifepod, for Brooke, Davidson and the others. She'd gone over and over again the different ways she could have handled the situation, but no other solution had presented itself. She couldn't work out an alternative to what happened. Now there was another crisis. Those 'Blackstars' as Douglas called them, were the problem.

The last thing she decided before slipping off to sleep again was to make those black ships pay dearly for what happened to her ship. She owed it to one of the finest crews she had ever worked with.


	11. Chapter 11

"I'm sorry. Mr President." Replied the Minbari on the link, "but we've had no response."

John Sheridan blew out yet another breath as he tried to keep his temper in check.

"OK." He said "But as…"

He never got to complete his sentence.

"Sir, I will notify you, if we receive anything." The link terminated.

John Sheidan was a well but frustrated man. Sat at the desk in the Presidential Office, he allowed himself several dark thoughts about the Minbari at the other end of the comlink before breathing out and forcing himself to be calm. He'd managed to get out of bed a couple of days ago, only to find that his wife had been missing for nearly two weeks. Her entire flight of White Stars had gone missing, as had any trace of their crews. Further searches of their last reported position had been fruitless.

On top of all that, now that he was back on his feet, the whole of the Alliance had demanded his attention at once. He'd managed to deal with the demands of the Drazi and the Narn to resolve a minor incident, which had been blown out of all proportion. He'd accepted the apologies from the Packmara Ambassador for the flu, which involved one of those world-weary ceremonies that the Minbari loved. Finally, He'd managed to explain to David that his mother had gone missing.

This was really the first opportunity he'd had to try and look into the missing white star issue himself. He wasn't too worried about Delenn just yet. She'd gone missing before under odder circumstances and for far longer than this time. A knock at the door interrupted his musing.

"Come"

A tall, blonde woman walked into the office. Head of alliance intelligence, sat down across from him without asking. It was only in moments like this that Shreidan reminded himself of how much the Alliance relied on her. Ex Mars freedom fighter, cool and calm under pressure, with a super human ability to analyse data put in front of her, she was normally as cold and remote as a monk on a mountaintop. However, Sheridan knew that there was one subject, which would break that ice like exterior.

"Mr. President." She stated formally.

"Number One." He replied. She always preferred being referred to as her old resistance handle. "I hope you've got some good news for me."

"Yes and No." she replied.

"Bad news first." He sighed.

"I've got nothing on Delenn's flight." She stated quickly, "There isn't anything at their last known position, no wreckage, no background radiation and no black boxes."

"That implies that they weren't destroyed then."

"Not with any weapon we know off."

"Captured then?" he asked.

"I'm unable to speculate sir."

"What's the good news?"

"I might have a lead on the flights of white stars which Delenn went looking for."

"Oh?"

Number One stood up and walked over to the viewer and placed a data crystal in it.

"We intercepted this from White Star 42, two weeks after it was reported missing."

The picture sprang to life. The White Star's diagnostics were at the bottom of the screen. It was in a star system that Sheridan couldn't recognise. It, as well as a second white star, was targeting a single vessel that was approaching at speed. Both White Stars opened fire on the other ship with their side batteries, scoring hit after hit but not having any effect.

As it passed straight between them, it started a 180-pitch rotation. As the point of view began to turn, they could see the other White Star hit again and again until it exploded in a ball of light. White Star 42 completed its turn but its momentum was still in reverse. Then the viewpoint shuddered and half of the diagnostics went red.

The camera started a nauseating slow vertical spin. They could see the White Star's adversary come closer until they could make it out quite clearly. It was a silver ship, with a pointed nose, a flat saucer like body with wings pointing out each side but the most distinctive feature was the size of the engines at the back. They were spread out like a fish's tail. As the ship got closer, a vague feeling of recognition began to creep into Sheridan's mind. The White Star fired in the approaching ship when the ship came into view, but again the weapons had no effect.

The opponent fired and the screen when blank.

"Oh my." Sheridan gasped, not since the Shadow war had he seen White Stars receive punishment like that.

"Spectacular isn't It." replied Number One.

"The crew of those White Stars?"

"Unknown."

"The location of this fight?"

"Unknown."

"Is there anything else which is known?" Sheridan was fighting the rise of frustration again.

"Yes." Number One turned back to the screen, "Find frame 4587 and enhance sectors 38-48"

A view of the front portion of the opposing vessel came into view and they could make out the nameplate quite clearly. "CNV-399 Ark Royal."

"It's in English?" Sheridan was astonished.

"Yes Sir, I've had to run some cross references back on Earth." She said.

"And how's Stephen?" he asked with a slight smile.

Number One controlled herself well, not blushing too much but giving enough away to show that Dr Franklin probably had been making house calls. Sheridan allowed himself a small smile. Delenn would call it teasing but a little of him was reassured that, despite appearances, Number One was just as human as he was.

"Fine." she replied, regaining her composure. "But most of the references came from the old British Navy or the Earth Minbari War."

"What was the Earth Minbari reference?"

"A Commander Douglas used a ruse to fool a Minbari Strike force to retreat by …"

"Calling on a non existent carrier group 'Ark Royal' for assistance." Sheridan finished. "I remember hearing about it. The Minbari cruisers thought they were going to go up against most of the home fleet when they weren't ready to, so they pulled back. Do we know what happened to this Commander Douglas?"

"He was assigned to battle group BG at the battle of the line. The whole group is listed as missing."

"Oh, "replied Sheridan, "I keep on forgetting how many were lost in that battle."

There was a pause as Sheridan composed himself. The vague feeling or recognition clicked in the back of his mind.

"I've seen plans for those ships." He exclaimed.

"Sir?"

"Or at least proposals for them during the Earth-Minbari war." He explained, "We never had the technology to be able to build them, so the designers started work on vessels we could build."

"Any details?"

"The Dreadnought Class corvette. Similar in role to our White Stars, but the capabilities were nothing like we've just seen."

"So we have someone who has access to technology on parity to our own and is knocking out White Stars." observed Number One.

"It's got to be supporters of the old President Clark Regime." concluded Sheridan, "There's no one else who could have access to that level of technology and they're earth based."

"Normally I would agreed." replied Number One. "However, in this case I have to disagree."

She called up a different presentation on the screen. There was a picture of the exactly same kind of ship, only in this case its weapons were in full flow. Bolts of Plasma hammering into whatever was taking the pictures. This time the nameplate could be made out to read CNV-301 Dreadnaught.

"That's definitely the same design." Confirmed Sheridan. "They even kept the same the registration number. Any idea what CNV stands for?"

"None Sir." Replied Number One, "If you could read the executive order?"

Sheridan read the executive order by President Clark regarding this vessel and any vessel coming into contact with it.

"My God. Clark ordered that?"

It occurred to Sheridan at that moment, that as soon as you think you know the way the universe works, it will kick you in the pants for being so arrogant. Suddenly the search for Delenn became much more urgent.


	12. Chapter 12

Ivanova sat next to Lennier and Douglas on the bridge of the Ark Royal. Douglas was sitting, looking relaxed and monitoring his console. The rest of the bridge crew seemed to be continuing with their various tasks. She'd been introduced to the pilot, Commander Smith, who'd mumbled some kind of greeting in reply and Lieutenant Kelly, the Engineer, who'd shook her hand and welcomed her with a smile.

The officer, who had shown her to the quarters she's been allocated, turned around to look at Douglas.

"Sir, is Hyperspace travel always so...?" He paused trying to think of the right term. "bad for the stomach lining?"

Douglas smiled.

"Yes Ensign." Clanwellin's face seemed to drop. "But you do get used to it."

"We're approximately two minutes from the B5 Jump Gate." whispered Smith.

"Mr. Lennier." Douglas turned to face the Minbari, "You'd better get back in your quarters if you don't want to be recognised. I'm going to have to leave you in there until we leave."

Lennier nodded. "I understand and I'm grateful."

"Mr Clanwellin will escort and secure you in your quarters."

Clanwellin and Lennier left the bridge.

"Are you protecting him?" asked Ivanova.

"Of course. Everybody on this ship technically owes him their life." He glanced at Smith. "Even if some people don't like it. What did he do?"

Ivanova looked troubled for a second. "I don't know. He won't talk about it and I know that Delenn and John don't talk about it."

"I see." said Douglas.

"Reversion in ten seconds." announced Smith.

Clanwellin walked back onto the bridge, and sat at his station.

"I wonder how they're going to react?" he said.

"Probably with a full armed escort." replied Ivanova.

"Clanwellin. Disarm weapons but keep the LDA's on'line." ordered Douglas, "Don't want to be on the end of a trigger happy star fury pilot's guns."

"Aye Aye Sir." responded Clanwellin.

"Reversion mark." announced Smith.

The view ports flashed and the stomach churning effects of hyperspace disappeared. In its place were the stars, a planet and probably the largest space station Douglas had ever seen. 5 Miles from the front to the back it looked like a giant cigar in space. Even from the distance of the jump gate, he could see the rotating sections, which created the gravity for the station.

He looked round at the crew. Smith seemed to examine it end to end over and over again. Clanwellin just stared at it, jaw wide open. Kelly let a small impressed whistle escape. Ivanova wasn't even looking; she was just staring at the floor. He didn't need to use his abilities to see that this was upsetting for her.

"Now that is impressive." said Douglas turning to her.

She brought her head up and Douglas could see that her eyes were wet.

"Not really the homecoming you were expecting?" he quietly asked.

"You should ask for a priority purple docking request." Ivanova said, deflecting the question.

Douglas passed her a handkerchief from his pocket.

"Attention Babylon 5. This is the CNV Ark Royal. We have onboard a Captain Susan Ivanova of Earth Force and request priority purple docking procedures." Douglas's voice had changed to have a slight edge to it.

"You think that will get their attention?" Douglas said.

"Attention CNV Ark Royal this is Babylon control, could you repeat that request?" came a voice over the speakers.

Ivanova recognised Lieutenant Colwin's voice over the speaker.

"May I?" She asked.

Douglas nodded.

"Colwin, this is Ivanova. I reiterate the request for Ark Royal to be given purple docking privilege."

"Yes Ma'am. I'll inform Captain Lockley immediately." replied the voice, obviously startled.

"They're launching Starfuries." reported Clanwellin.

"It seems that we've said the wrong thing." Kelly Observed.

"You're an unknown." Ivanova said to Douglas. "You will be escorted in."

"Right, Gentlemen and Ms Kelly. " Douglas got the Crew's attention. "The Bridge Section will separate and dock with the station once we're close enough. " he decreed, "Only myself and the captain here are going abroad that station. Smith, we'll use the 'ol one-two' in order to check in and do not surrender Ark Royal under any circumstance."

"Aye Aye Captain." acknowledged Smith.

The Speaker came to life again, this time with a woman's voice.

"Attention Ark Royal, We need confirmation of Captain Ivanova before we can allow your docking request to be processed."

Douglas looked at Ivanova,

"They don't believe that you're with us." He said wryly, "Any idea's on how to make them trust us."

She glared at him and raiser her wrist showing the link on the back of her hand. She turned it to her face and pressed a button on it.

"Ivanova to Babylon Control, Please validate this signal."

The link bleeped and then the same female voice confirmed.

"We read you Captain." It said, "You will be escorted in meet me in my office when you report in."

"Captain Lockley, This ship is going to split apart, only the command section will be docking with one other occupant, a Captain Douglas of the Ark Royal."

"Confirmed, Security will meet you in docking bay 13."

Ivanova grimaced and terminated the link. Looking over at Douglas' display, she could see a full squadron of Star Furies take up escort position around Ark Royal.

"Well, they are certainly taking no chances." observed Douglas.

"If I was still in command, I wouldn't." replied Ivanova

Douglas signalled for the crew to clear the bridge, as the station grew large on the board.

"Where would be a good place to park the ship?" he asked.

"About 3km off to the starboard."

Douglas personally manoeuvred Ark Royal into position.

"Smith. You ready?" he asked his command station.

A small picture of Smith appeared on the workstation's screen.

"Sir, we have the secondary bridge ready," he said

"Good. As we discussed earlier Mr Smith."

"Aye Aye Sir." Smith signed off.

Douglas hit a couple of switches and there was a soft hiss from further back in the ship. Ivanova noticed the gravity had gone. Douglas moved the ship forward and round to the front of the station. He began to match rotation with the Station. Ivanova noticed he was humming the 'Blue Danube' waltz. She decided to say nothing. The wedge like command section effortlessly entered into Babylon 5.

As the automatics to guided the ship it's bay, Douglas turned back to Ivanova.

"I take it Bay 13 is not good." He said.

"Well, not really. Superstitious really. The Vorlon Ambassador's ship used to be berthed there." She answered, "The crew used to say it was haunted. It's kept clear for emergency only."

The ship was brought level with the docking bay. Douglas got up and reached underneath the workstation. He pulled out his cap and put it on; he also pulled out his old Identi-card. He didn't know how these people were going to react to a telepath who was supposed to be dead for almost twenty years. He shrugged and put it in his pocket.

Ivanova picked up the two cases containing the warlock's logs. They were very heavy in her hands and she struggled with them a little. Douglas though of helping but after her reaction in the medical bay he dismissed the idea. The door opened and light glared in. Both of them could see about twenty to thirty men all in full battle armour all of them pointing PCG rifles at them

"Oh Oh!" said Ivanova.

"Always nice to get a warm welcome." said Douglas grimly.

* * *

Both of them were escorted by these security guards, Ivanova tried to recognise any of them but their faces were hidden by their visors. She got an unsettled feeling in her stomach. The only time she'd seen this level of security was, when the Psi-Cop Bester came to visit. Something didn't add up here. What worried her even more was that she thought that Security Chief Zack Allen would be here.

They were matched through the familiar corridors, to Ivanova. It was like she had never left. She fought for control and barely made it. She noticed Douglas occasionally looking over, but she could make her mind up whether he was concerned about her or the situation.

They arrived at the Captain's Office. It was a spacious office with the EA logo at the back. At the main door were two guards in full battle dress. Behind the desk stood Captain Lockley, a tall and exotic looking woman, and next to her stood Zac Allen. Ivanova felt relieved to see a familiar face. Zac started to smile once he saw her but a glare from Lockley stopped him.

Ivanova stopped in front of the desk set the cases down, came to attention and saluted.

"Captain Ivanova reporting." She said.

Lockley returned the salute.

"There is no need to be formal. Captain." She said.

"I wasn't sure about that after the reception." Ivanova replied, "May I present Captain Douglas of the Commonwealth Navy Vessel 'Ark Royal'!"

Lockley nodded at Douglas, who saluted in return.

"Yes, from our scans, quite a little firecracker." Lockley said returning her attention to Ivanova, "Where's your ship Captain?"

"Destoryed." There was no way that Ivanova could think of to soften the blow. Lockley looked stunned. Zac Allen was the first to break the silence.

"She was supposed to be the pride of the fleet." He said, "How?"

"These logs will provide a full explanation." she said, pointing to the two cases on the floor, "But the short version is we were attacked by a flight of, what seemed to be, corrupted white stars."

"Corrupted?" Lockley looked sceptical.

"They were the wrong colour, used the wrong tactics and didn't use all their weapons. They were not being flown by rangers." Ivanova reaffirmed her opinion.

"Not by the ships similar to the one you've flown in on." queried Allen.

"No." Ivanova was unsure where this was leading.

Lockley turned to face Douglas.

"As of this moment Captain Douglas here is under arrest…" she said.

"WHAT!" said Ivanova and Douglas together.

"and Captain Ivanova is suspended from duty and will be held, pending an investigation."

The two guards levelled their weapons at Douglas.

"Empty your pockets." ordered Lockley." I'm not allowing any leeway for you."

Douglas, who had been standing at attention, pulled open all his pockets to show they were empty and, with a grimace, pulled out his Identi-card. Ivanova looked over at Allen, who shook his head. There would be a way to find out what happened later.

"What's this?" asked Lockley.

"Captain P. H. Douglas. Earth Force. Serial number 00710549. That is all I'm permitted to say at this moment. I am also to consider myself a prisoner of war." He replied, locking eyes with Captain Lockley.

"Computer Run Check on Captain Douglas." ordered Lockley.

"Search Found."

Ivanova stared at Douglas shocked. There had been no mention by Lennier or Douglas that he was in Earth Force.

"Captain Douglas." reported the Computer, "Last known in Command of the Cruiser 'Athena'. Missing in Action 2249 as part of Task Force BG. Details on task force BG are classified."

Lockley looked uncomfortable as she read through the rest of the read out.

"You've been missing quite a while, Captain. care to explain." Lockley caustically remarked.

"I'm under orders." Replied Douglas, "I will allow you to take a DNA sample to prove who I am, other than that I will reiterate, Captain P. H. Douglas, Earthforce, Serial number 00710549"

"Well I'm under orders as well Captain. Brig both of them." Ordered Lockley.

"Both." Allen sounded aghast.

"Mr. Allen. I gave you an order."

"Yes, but…"

"Mr Allen!" Lockley looked as if she was about to loose her temper.

"Sorry, Captain." He said to Ivanova and pointed out of the door.

Ivanova glared at Lockley, who held her gaze for a few seconds before looking down at her desk. She got the impression that Lockley, not only didn't like her, but borderline hatred was a more accurate portrayal of her feelings. She let Allen lead her away. It seemed that she'd lost her ship and career in less that a week and wondering what else could go wrong.


	13. Chapter 13

Delenn woke up. She was alone in a damp cave. She sat up in her dirty clothes and tried not to let the situation overwhelm her. It had been days since she originally woke up here. Things had seemed to settle into some kind of routine. Saran would be working on the transmitter; exploration parties would go out and report back. Reynolds would work on keeping his water purification working. He said it was a full time job with this many people here.

She'd tried meditating but there was something at the back of her mind, which would not let her rest. Ivanova's 'hour of the wolf' explanation came to her mind. She sighed, perhaps she was getting paranoid, but Reynolds story kept on coming back to her. It sounded truthful and he did seem genuine, but something told her it wasn't quite right. She smiled to herself as thought of what Mr. Garabaldi's face if she could tell him that she used gut instinct.

They found some more of the roots that they could use over in the next valley. It would be just enough to keep everybody on subsistence rations. Then yesterday there were more arrivals, even with meditation and the strictest rationing, starvation looked likely. Standing up, she realised that in order to survive they were going to have to manage day to day. There was a knock at the cave entrance.

"Good Morning Delenn." greeted Muttley, "I've had some good news from Saran. He reckons he knows how he can get enough power into the generator."

"That's good news." She replied "You don't seem to be cheered by it though?"

"You'll have to forgive me." He said, "But we've been here before."

"I know." said Delenn. "That's why I want you to watch Professor Reynolds. If you loose him, get Saran as far as possible away from that transmitter."

Muttley bowed, accepting the order, and turned to go. Delenn decided it would be best to walk with him for a bit.

"I think that Takoh and Jason have found something. " He said, as they walked out of the cave, "They seemed quite shocked by something."

"They've been exploring haven't they?" she asked.

"Yes, they found the first plantation of roots a couple of days ago." He added wryly, "Maybe they've found a way to improve the taste."

Delenn smiled suddenly remembering Ivanova for the second time in less than ten minutes. Ranger Muttley seemed to have the same cynical approach to problems. He would work on the assumption that anything could and would go wrong, so he'd plan for every eventuality. He did take set backs personally and he'd even berate himself for something that was in no way his fault. He'd just say that he didn't plan well enough, but he always started again, not giving up. This determination was evident in his demeanour and the dry, sometimes offensive, sense of humour was just a release.

"Are you Russian ?" she asked suddenly.

"Oh, no." he replied, "I'm from Detroit in America."

"Nice place?" she inquired.

"Not really," he replied with a grimace. "It's one of the most depressing places on the planet."

Nodding to Delean, he went off to search for Reynolds. She could see in the distance the other two rangers who had been here when she had arrived. They seemed to be talking the newcomers. She strode up to them. There was one human ranger and a couple of warrior caste Minbari. They all bowed when she approached.

"Delenn, May I present Captain Towlen, Talrook and Neteen." Said Jason

Delenn nodded in their direction. Here were more names to remember and add to the list.

"What happened?"

Talrook and Neteen exchanged glances.

"We had asked for a white star escort of our Clan Leader. Our other ships were busy on patrol else where." Talrook Explained, "We were attacked by a ship which disabled the white stars and then captured them."

"And you're Clan Leader?"

"His flyer was destroyed after all the others had been captured." reported Towlen, "They seemed intent in only capturing us."

"Was there any chance that the outcome would have been different?" She asked.

"The White Stars were disabled in seconds." explained Neteen, "The Flyer stood no chance."

"In Valen's name!" Said Delenn, "How many ships are there here?"

"Four Crews."

Four Crews meant almost another two hundred mouths to feed and they didn't know how much more food they could find. Delenn sighed, unless Saran could get the transmitter working then, there were going to be serious problems.

"Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?" Delenn asked Jason.

"Actually no," replied Jason. "We found another patch of those roots."

"Enough for everyone?"

"Well that's just it." said Tahok puzzled, "I'm sure that patch wasn't there when we passed it a couple of days ago. All of a sudden, we've got just enough for ourselves and the new arrivals."

"You think someone's planting them?"

"Well..." he glanced across to Jason. It was apparent that the other ranger didn't agree with what Tahok was saying.

"These roots take two weeks to grow and there is no way that anything could have grown there a couple of days ago. Now there is water flowing into that area and these roots have instantly appeared."

"You think this is Reynolds doing?"

"That's the thing," said Jason, "I was with Reynolds a couple of days ago and he was nowhere near that area."

"I'm going to ask him." said Delenn.

"Do you think that's wise?" asked Neteen, "He seems to be the only person who's keeping us alive?"

"No!" replied Delean. "I think there is something else at work here."

Delean set off in the direction of the home made water purification apparatus that Prof. Reynolds had built. The other rangers and the warrior caste followed. She made her mind up. It wasn't the lack of food or her nagging doubts about the capture that made her jump to this conclusion. It was a gut feeling, a human gut feeling.

She tried to reason through it. _You not could survive on these roots for the length of time he claimed to have been here. He would have needed help to build the water purification structure. Where did he get the raw materials for it? _

Reynolds had lied to her all right and Delean was getting angrier with each step. Then just as she thought her anger turned to rage, an explosion was heard ahead. She broke into a run. She ran over the small dunes in the valley and rounded a corner to see devastation. The remains of the escape pod had smoke pilling out of it and the small tower next to lake that held the water purification equipment had been totally decimated.

She noticed two prone figures on the ground, one next to the burning tower and the other next to the escape pod. She ran over to the Tower, gesturing to Jason and Neteen to look at the other figure. Looking down she could see the Muttley. One arm bend and both legs were set at impossible angles and his face was a mess of blood and cuts. He was breathing very, very shallowly.

"What happened?"

"Dunno." Delean had to listen hard. He was whispering very quietly. "Reynolds started running… when Saran shouted … Pod."

"Where did he go?"

Mutley said no more but with his good arm he pointed over to his left. His chest stopped moving and the arm relaxed. She looked over at where he pointed and ran. She ran at the cliff base following the wall. The way these valleys were laid out, there would be no way for the professor to double back. She turned another corner and saw him duck into a fissure in one of the cliffs ahead.

Delean realised one thing; although she'd though she kept her self fit, she was beginning to tire. The lack of proper food over the last few days was counting against her, in addition to the fact that she was more used to a more 'administered role' these days. She saw the fissure begin to close ahead of her. She put her head down and tried to lengthen her stride. She dived through the closing gap, rolled and came back to her feet. The cave closed behind her.

_Not bad for a mother who's had a three year old._ She thought.

Unfortunately, that single thought brought John and David into her mind. Grimacing, she forced them away. If she didn't focus on the present, then there would be no chance to see them in the future. She took in her surroundings. She seemed to be in a dimly lit corridor. The only light being a faint glimmer up ahead. She listened. There was no sound, apart from her heavy breathing. That meant he was close by and not moving, or he was a lot further away.

Controlling her breathing, she slowly eased her way down the corridor. It was hard to tell how far away the light was or how the passageway bent up ahead. She could hardly remember her stealth training but she seemed to be walking silently. The light seemed to fade the more she walked forward and after a few meters she was completely blind.

The she heard it, whispering words from not far away. She slowly turned a couple of corners and was faced with a small room. Reynolds was kneeling down in front of what looked like a computer console. Delean could have been mistaken, but it sounded like he was preying.

"Why do you make me do this, I've done everything else?" he was muttering.

He paused while he seemed to listen to a reply.

"Isn't it enough? Haven't I done enough?" He stood up and shouted. "I demand you send me home."

There was another pause.

"No I will do it no Longer. Kill me if you must, but no more!"

He backed away from the console and then ran at it. Punching at some of the controls. He didn't make a dent. He punched again and again with an inhuman fury. She could tell that his knuckes and hands were bleeding from the repeated impacts, but he didn't give up. He kept at it again and again until she heard a small smashing sound of glass or something similar, breaking.

Reynolds scrabbled at the console and pulled out a couple of wires. He put them to his neck. There was a sparking sound and he flew back from the console into the wall near Delean. There was a sickening snap of bone when he hit and he fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. Delean slowly walked up to him. She could see he was still breathing but he was staring straight ahead. He must of heard her approach because he turned his head.

"Delean?" His voice had changed dramatically, "You've got your power."

He pointed at the console and with that, like Ranger Muttle before him, his eyes closed and his breathing stopped.


	14. Chapter 14

Ivanova sat in a holding cell and stared at one of the walls. It was a small grey walled box of a room with two small bunks, a table and the chair she was sat on. There was one small light in the ceiling, which seemed to add to the gloom and depressive nature of the room. The designers had never intended it to be an uplifting place.

Lying on the bunk across from her was Douglas. He'd left his black and white cap on the table as soon as they'd been put in here. Zack had explained that there wasn't much in the way of room at the moment and they would have to share. He also wanted to explain something, but one glance at the guards; he shook his head and pointed them in. She knew procedures well enough to know that the security office was monitoring them.

_Can we talk?_

She noticed Douglas was looking at her and realised that he was talking to her telepathically. Nobody had done that to her since her mother. She shook her head in answer and he sighed.

_Sorry. I meant, could I talk to you like this? They will be able to monitor anything we say._

She nodded.

_Look, _sent Douglas, _There's not a telepath for at least a mile. We'll have privacy._

_But will I have any privacy? _She shot back.

_I know your secret. You are very good at hiding your ability. You would know if I tried anything like even a light scan. Or worse._

_How the hell do you know? _Ivanova stood up and glared at him.

Douglas sat up and looked at her from across the room.

_You cried out when you woke up in the Med Bay. I think it almost blasted half the minds out of my crew._

_You're all telepathic?_

_Down to the lowest crewman. _Confirmed Douglas, _We have a booster program. The higher you're rank, the more boosters you get. I'm currently rated at a P12._

_Currently Rated? You mean you can go higher?_

_The highest natural limit we have discovered is a P15 and not many people can achieve that._

_Were you a telepath when you were in Earth Force?_

_Yes. _He confirmed, _P7 rated spy for the Corp. That BG group was an escape attempt just before, what your Mr Lennier told me, was the Battle of the Line._

_You Ran! _Ivanova glared again. _Others died on the line and you ran._

_We were ordered out. _Douglas replied, letting the anger boil over in the telepathic link. Ivanova winced.

_Sorry, _apologised Douglas. He took a deep breath and composed himself

_I'd just had my old cruiser shot from under me. I didn't want to go. The Psychs call it survivors' guilt and it's not easy to live with. Smith has it worse that I. On one of the outer colonies, he lost his whole family in a Minbari raid that had obviously missed its target. We both wanted to take out as many of those Minbari bastards before they took us down. Living was not an option. The orders, however, seemed to come through from the president herself. _

_Look, I didn't mean… _Ivanova tried to interrupt.

_These days I don't even know if those orders came from the president. We just went. Half of us were glad to run, the other half were wanting to stay and fight. _It was Douglas' turn to glare, his anger still bubbling in the link. _I've never run from something. It took me years to get over the fact we did._

_Sorry. _Sent Ivanova, _I never was in the war, but three of my best friends were. They don't talk about it much, only when they have to really._

She could feel his anger subside and then realised something.

_How old were you when you left?_

_32_

_I don't get that. You don't look 50._

Douglas smiled. _Trade Secret._

_So your people have found a way to look that good at that age…_

Douglas stared at her quizzically, sending nothing, just raising an eyebrow.

_Erm,_ Ivanova seemed to stutter for a second,_ and you've found a way to give and increase telepathic ability. No wonder they want you badly. _

_Nice to be appreciated _She could feel some quiet amusement emanating from him.

_Are you laughing at me?_

_A little, I haven't found someone as optimistic as you, since reading Winne the Pooh!_

She sighed as she realised what he meant,

_Which character? _She knew the answer even before he answered.

_Eee-oar_

_I'm Russian. _She explained.

_That explains that. _He continued. _I'm Scottish myself and I haven't seen home for twenty years because I though it would have been destroyed. I've got half a bottle of good whiskey left on my ship and I can't get to it because I'm in a prison cell. Ironically, I'm being held by own people who I thought were all dead. I'm not really having a good day._

Ivanova couldn't help smile at that.

_How were you able to do all that in twenty years, you have ships at least as advanced as the Minbari, the telepathic advances and the ageing stuff. _She paused._ How?_

_Can't tell you. _He smiled without humour, _All I can say is, for us time isn't what it used to be._

_Time Travel?_

_Lord No! Even we wouldn't mess around with the time line. It would really screw you up._

_Ain't that the truth! _Thought Ivanova, trying to repress images of Babylon 4.

She changed the conversation.

_Once they find out who you are, the corp will come here._

_I'm not worried about the corp, _he replied, _I'm worried about the way Lockley reacted to my ship. It was if Deathwalker had just walked into her office. No commonwealth vessel has ever left our system. We have so many sensors scanning for jump points that everybody would know about a ship leaving or arriving in system._

_I don't know about Lockley, but Zack Allen wasn't happy about all this. _Ivanova wondered, _I wish there some way to find out what's going on._

Douglas smiled. _That's what I'm doing at the moment. Lockley is in that office we were taken to and Allen's approaching it._

_Can I see it?_

_I could let you if you want?_

Ivanova was not the most trusting of people, but Douglas seemed genuine. He was telepathically rated as high, if not higher, than a psi cop and he had not once tried to scan or invade her privacy. She wasn't sure that she could keep the same level of composure under the same circumstances. She hadn't really been able to trust anybody with her secret since leaving Babylon 5. Still she'd have to try.

_Ok but no Scans._

_Fine, you'd know if there were scans anyway._

For a second her vision blurred and then she found herself floating in the corner of Lockley's office. She looked down but there was no body. She began to panic. She felt like a ghost. A disembodied spirit forever doomed to float in space. Then she felt Douglas' presence next to her.

_Don't Panic. Your body is safe and well back in the cell. _He reassured, _It is a bit disconcerting to start with but once you get used to it…_

_I've done something like this before. _She remembered her experience on epsilon three, _Just give me a moment._

The panic subsided and she relaxed. Lockley was sat at her desk, looking at her monitor at her desk. It was obvious that she was tense. She was hunched over the desk, gripping her pen as tightly as a drowning man would grab a plank of wood. Allen appeared at the door. She continued looking at the screen. He coughed and she looked up.

"Zack. You'd better come in." She said. There was a strange quality to the voices, as if they'd turned wavy, not completely tangible.

_You can never hear things totally clearly, _explained Douglas, _But it'll do for what we need._

"Captain…" Allen Started.

"If you're going to tell me that you are not happy with this then you're not the only one." Interrupted Lockley.

"Can you at least tell me what going on?"

"Take a look at this." Lockley turned the screen round.

On the screen was a blurry picture of a ship, looking very similar to the Ark Royal. Its weapons were at full flow, blasting straight at the camera.

"This is from Earth Force Intelligence along with some standing orders. The record itself was placed in the archives about five years ago and this is only the third time it's been accessed. There is no countersign and none of the usual validation checks out but the orders were confirmed once I tried to query them."

"That's their ship type alright." accepted Allen, "What are the orders?"

"These ships are to be considered extremely dangerous. Lethal force is to be used when in contact. No warnings or challenges are to be given."

"Meaning that you've broken those orders by letting her dock." Observed Allen.

"There's more. 'Any Earth Force Personnel that has been captured by these ships is subject to immediate liquidation to prevent becoming a liability to Earth Force.' It's signed by President Clark."

"We'll we should just ignore those orders then." Urged Allen, "See what this Douglas wants. I've already had a DNA check back from Earth. That is a Captain Douglas, who disappeared during the Minbari War, and that's OUR Captain Ivanova. What's more, I've had notification that the Psi Corp is sending it's entire Black Omega Squadron here to take custody of Douglas. Something is not right."

"These orders have been confirmed, Dammit!" Lockley lost control, "I either get court-martialled for disobeying orders or Ivanova gets 'Liquidated'"

"Executed, in other words. You won't find an officer on this station who do that." Allen shouted back.

Ivanova herself felt sick. She was now subject to what was called extreme sanction, a threat to Earth Force security. Fate seemed to like the fact that the man who she'd fought against in the civil war had signed the order that would still take her life.

_Five years ago, _she reasoned _That's right at the height of the shadow war._

_We were fighting huge black ships at the time, _added Douglas, _Could those be these shadows they're referring to?_

_Big, Black. Looked like a huge crab with spines everywhere? _Asked Ivanova.

_That's sounds about close. _

_Yes! You fought the Shadows as well and I know that Earth, at the time, was kind of allied with them._

_That record could have come from these shadows. _Douglas reasoned, _meaning Earth Force is against us._

_We have to get out. Lockley has a reputation for following orders. If she can find a way out of these orders she would. She did that through the civil war, but they've confirmed them. She's got no choice, and liquidation does not sound like something I want to happen._

Ivanova's vision blurred again and then she found herself back in her body, in the prison cell. She saw Douglas. He was sat on the edge of the bed. Looking closer she noticed a slight sheen of sweat was visible on his face.

_Smith! _Ordered Douglas.

_Yes Sir. _Smith's presence was felt close by.

_You get all that as well._

_Yes Sir, We can blast the station with the mines we've got._

_You can't do that _Ivanova called, _there are a quarter of a million people on B5, civilians._

_It would already add to our bad rep. _countered Douglas, _Nope, Plan B Mr Smith. Raise the fusion to 110, in two 5 increments two minutes apart and make sure they notice. I'll call you soon._

_Aye Aye Sir._

_Has he been there all the time? _Asked Ivanova.

_Yes, I've been feeding him everything we heard._

_What's plan 'B'? _Asked Ivanova, feeling Deja vu.

Once again she was an outcast from Earth, wanted and on the run. She was beginning to get used to it.

_Don't know yet_ Replied Douglas _but I'm working on it._

_Oh Joy! _Was Ivanova's sarcastic reply.


	15. Chapter 15

The three remaining crew of the Ark Royal sat looking at the Babylon 5 station through the view port. At this close range it practically filled it. Clanwellin fidgeted at his station whilst Kelly worked away at hers. Smith stared out of the viewport with an impassive mask on his face.

"Oh boy!" said Clanwellin, "There's another four fighters joined the patrol around us."

"How many is that?" asked Smith.

"Twenty Four." replied Clanwellin.

"They don't like us very much do they?" commented Kelly, "Not really the home coming we were expecting."

"I didn't think there was a home to go to." said Smith.

"It's not home to me." said Clanwellin, "and if this is anything to go by. I don't want it."

"How's the Captain?" asked Kelly.

"Worried, but fine." Smith replied, "The Reactor?"

"Running at 110." She said, "If they haven't noticed by now then they need new eyes."

"Maybe that's why we're getting more fighters round us." commented Clanwellin.

"Well, it could explain it I suppose." said Smith.

A light on Clanwellin's board came up.

"I think Mr. Lennier would like a word." he said.

"He'll have to wait until this is resolved, one step at a time."

Back in the cells, Douglas got up. He walked up to the door and hammered on it. He waited a few seconds and hammered again. A voice came from a hidden speaker in the cell.

"What is it?" Ivanova recognised it as Zack Allens.

"I have request to make to your captain."

Ivanova looked at him and raised her eyebrow.

_This must be Plan 'B'_. She thought.

"What?" Zack sounded grouchy.

"Any chance of a cup of tea. I haven't had one in about twenty years?"

"None, anything else?" He sounded very grouchy.

"Yes, one more thing." He paused.

"and …" Zack now sounded peevish.

"My ship runs has a full compliment of fusion warheads onboard, equivalent to about 500 megatons. My ship's computer has standard orders to detonate them when the reactor runs at 110 for about half an hour. As per standard orders, the reactor should have been raised to run at critical, a couple of minutes ago. That gives you about twenty minutes. My crew are locked out of the system and only I can deactivate it."

"What…"

"Captain Ivanova, what would 500 Megatons do to this station?"

"You can't do that." Ivanova sounded shocked, "There are 250,000 people on board. Zack inform the Captain."

"Lockley here."

"Ah Captain." Douglas put a slight condescending tone in his voice, "I'm glad you can listen in. You'll have noticed the power fluxuations onboard my ship."

"Yes, Twenty minutes is not enough time to get your shuttle ready to get to your ship." Lockley sounded angry and something else Ivanova hadn't noticed before. It could be fear.

"With respect Captain, that's utter bollocks!" Douglas shouted, putting real anger into his voice, "Captain Ivanova here used to turn a ship round in ten. Now it will take ten minutes to launch, dock and disarm the system. That gives you ten minutes, sorry nine, to make your mind up."

"You'll die too" Lockley sounded.

"Personally I'm not bothered anymore." Douglas shot back "This isn't the home coming I expected or wanted."

"I'll consider it."

"Well while you are, you should be aware if you open fire on Ark Royal, she'll blow anyway."

"You can't be serious." said Ivanova.

"Deadly. My patience is running out, as well as the timer on the war heads. Remember, the crew are locked out."

"You ordered that!" Ivanova shouted, "You've got to be bluffing."

"What have I got to loose? A ship? You loose a whole station."

He shrugged. He seemed to be calming down but there was still something bubbling under the surface. Ivanova could feel it from where she was sat. She could feel the blood draining from her face as she realised he wasn't bluffing.

"If we weren't going to die, I'd kill you."

"Nice to be appreciated." Douglas shot back and smiled grimly.

"What do you reckon?" asked Zack

He was sat in the Captain's Office with Colwin and Lockley. Lockley didn't look happy and it was obvious that Colwin was trying to appear calm and collected, but underneath he was squirming like the rest of them.

"There has been a power build up in that ship." said Colwin, "If she did blow with that much power, she would take us with her."

"Ivanova sounded scared." said Zack as he looked over at Colwin, "You know, the quiet scared, when something looked really bad?"

Colwin nodded, "That's the worst kind of scared when it comes to Ivanova."

"Could they be in it together?" asked Lockley.

"They haven't spoken to each other while they've been in there, can't see how?" replied Zack.

"Right, we'll have to let Douglas go, but Ivanova is staying here."

"That got anything with the standing orders?" Zack looked at her accusingly.

Lockley didn't answer.

The door to the cell opened. There eight people all in full battle dress pointing guns at Douglas. He turned away from them and picked up his cap, which he'd left on the table. Ivanova stood up as well. She noticed that no guns were pointed in her direction, but wondered when they would. Douglas looked over to her.

"You coming?" he asked.

She nodded; the talk about liquidation was still fresh in her mind.

"Ivanova is not going anywhere." said one of the suited figures. She recognised Zack's voice.

"I'm a hostage." She blurted out, "They've got something inside me which will go bang if we're separated."

Douglas turned and looked at her quizzically. _What are you doing?_

_Coming with you!_ Ivanova replied. _You'll need me._

_And that's the best you could come up with?_

_Funny man!_

There was a pause. Zack looked between them.

"Thirteen Minutes." reminded Douglas.

Ivanova could feel Zack grimace from behind the helmet

"Right, both of you." He said.

They were matched out of the cell.

Two minutes later they were sat in the command section of Ark Royal. Ivanova had noticed there were burn marks on the door where someone had tried to break in. It was obvious that they hadn't managed to. Douglas sat at the command workstation and offered her a seat.

"This is Babylon Control, we will have a squadron of fighters escort you to your ship. Launch is in two mins." Colwin's voice.

"Rodger Babylon Control." replied Douglas.

"Looks like I'm on the run again." She muttered.

"Again?" he asked, "You make a habit of getting into trouble with your own side?"

"Oh! Only about once every five years or so."

The command section lurched as it was brought up to launch position.

"You'll have to talk me through the launch procedure." He commented.

They came out of bay 13 into the huge central launch bay. Out of the view port they could see the inner lock open.

"Nudge the ship through and stop before the outer door." She said.

Douglas's hands flew over his console. The outer door looked huge through the view port.

"If they don't believe you then this is where you'll get held."

"What are the doors made of?"

"Durillium Alloy."

"Ok, if they don't open them in thirty seconds, I'll ram them."

"You'll ram a 5 metre durillium alloy wall?" Ivanova was amazed at that.

"I'd have to; we're running out of time."

She watched to clock turn down, at three seconds the door opened and she let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding.

"Thank God." Douglas whispered.

"What for?" she asked, "That they believed you?"

"Nope, So I didn't have to scuff the paintwork." He replied.

She turned to give him one of her trademark 'withering stares' but found he was perfectly serious. He started to manoeuvre the ship out of the docking bay. The transfer and the dock were done in minutes and the crew bundled into the bridge. Douglas called to Babylon 5.

"Ark-Royal to B5. We're moving to a safe distance." He announced, "Just in case I get this wrong. I'd recommend moving your star furies out of range too."

"Very well, but a Squadron will stay with you." replied Lockley, who terminated the connection.

Twenty-four of the Star Furies headed back to Babylon 5, leaving twelve in a ball formation around Ark Royal. Ark Royal fired her thrusters and the remaining twelve fighters stayed with her.

"Nice try." muttered Ivanova.

"Suggestions people?" asked Douglas.

"Take down the fighters and then run to the nearest la-grange point." suggested Clanwellen.

"I don't want to take on Earth Force fighters, yet." replied Douglas, "and I don't want them to see us jump either".

"Then we run for the Jump Gate." put in Kelly.

"They would have locked you out of the jump gate by now." replied Ivanova.

"We're not going to have much time. Have you got a fix on the la-grange points?" Douglas asked Smith.

"It's right over the Jump Gate." replied Smith, "The other ones are too far away to be much use."

"The planet!" Ivanova announced. "Can we make it to the planet?"

"Well, we can land if that's what you mean." replied Smith, "But we'll have to pass close to your Babylon 5 to do it. Surely Lockley will think we mean to attack."

"It won't matter, we'll have something on our side she doesn't know about." replied Ivanova.

She turned to Douglas, "Can you get me a tight beam transmittion to the planet?"

He altered some settings and passed her a headset.

"Draul? This is Ivanova! If you're awake, I could do with some help!"

There was no reply.

"Smith, Fire up the Engines." ordered Douglas, "We're running to the planet."

"No LDS?" asked Clanwellin.

"We're too near a Jump Gate Rookie." Kelly told him, obviously irritated, "Have you forgotten your basic physics already?"

"Enough." ordered Douglas, "Smith. Execute the planet run now."

"Ma'am," Colwin turned to Lockley in C&C, "Ark Royal has broken away from her escort and she's heading for us."

"What?" Lockley made a snap decision, "All Squadron's attack to disable. Bring the defence grid on-line."

"Aye Aye Ma'am!" Colwin acknowledged as his hands flew over the console. "Alpha Squad are in pursuit but their shots are having no effect. They've got trouble keeping up."

"With a ship that size?" replied Lockley.

"The other two squads are coming into range. They're firing."

"Anything?"

"Doesn't seem to have any effect."

"Well, we'll see when the defence grid comes on line."

"Sir, I'm going to need more power to the LDAs." cried out Clanwellin.

"Kelly, take the PBCs off line and put the power into the shields." Order Douglas.

"You have shields?" asked Ivanova

"LDA. It's protects a small area of the ship from energy, plasma and particle weapons. Even old fashion bullets don't work." explained Douglas as the ship shook under the impacts, "The problem is that we have only two, one for the dorsal and one for the ventricle of the ship. You effectively have position the LDA to block the shots as they come in."

"We've got Star Furies coming in from ahead." reported Smith.

"Kelly, Take over the ventricle LDA."

Ark Royal lurched as the ship evaded more shots from the Star Furies behind.

"We're coming up on the station." reported Smith.

"They're in range of the outer guns." Colwin observed, "but …"

"Yes, Lieutenant"

"They're not heading straight for us, they'll pass underneath!"

"Could they still make a course correction to impact?"

"I don't know Ma'ma. I suppose a White Star could but an Earth Force vessel wouldn't be able to change it's velocity in time."

"I'm not willing to take that chance. Time on target and fire!"

Colwin looked dismayed and then sighed.

"Time on Target Aye!"

He locked in Ark Royal to the targeting computer.

"Slight damage to the Port PBCs" said Kelly, "I'm assigning a repair crew."

"That's Station's been too quiet." said Smith.

Ivanova looked over Douglas' shoulder. The Defense grid was up, they had a total of thirty-six fighters pursuing but the station hadn't fired. Realisation slowly dawned.

"Oh Lord. Time on Target." She gasped.

"What?"

"They're going to throw everything at you at once."

"When?"

Ivanova looked at the tactical readouts. "Ten Seconds"

"Smith, Full Lateral Evade on Ivanova's mark."

"Aye Aye Sir."

Ivanova counted down.

"Mark!"

The ship lurched.

"Firing Ma'am."

The entire station opened up at Ark Royal but it was if the ship knew. She darted in and out of the streams of ordinance as if mocking the guns firing at it. Twenty seconds later she was passed the station and heading straight for the planet.

"How the hell did they manage that." gasped Lockley.

"Ivanova perhaps?" replied Colwin.

"Order the Star Furys to pursue…"

"Ma'am. Special Order 89."

Colwin sounded pained to remind his CO about the standing orders regarding Epsilon Three. Lockley looked back at him from C&C and for a moment he thought she would not confirm the order. Instead, she sighed.

"Order everyone home and stand down the alert." she said, "I'm going to have so much paperwork to fill out on this one."


	16. Chapter 16

"Yes, that will do it," Soran sat by the console. " I cant even the guarantee that anybody will be able to pick up the signal though."

Deleen grimaced. "How big will the receiver have to be in order to pick up our distress signal?"

"Maybe Babylon 5's transmitter could, maybe the communications centre on the Minbar. That black hole drains a lot of power from the signal strength."

"Do we have any idea where we are, at least?"

"Oh yes!" confirmed Soran. "We're about ten light years spinward of the Markab home world."

"And this system is undetected?" Delenn seemed incredulous that this system wasn't as remote as she first thought.

"Well, we never got detailed maps of their systems before they died out," Soran explained. "How is Muttley doing?"

Delenn smiled. "He can't believe he's still alive. Dr. Ketana from white star thirty-one managed to revive him. He' s not going to be able to walk until we get back to a medical centre."

Saran smiled back but then it faded as his gaze fell on Reynolds' body.

"What about him?"

"Not sure," Delenn replied. "It's obvious that he was being controlled by something that I can't see any mechanism. First order business, how long until you can start sending the signal?"

Soran scratched the bone structure at the back of his head as he considered his options. "Give me a couple of days. However, I have found a way to increase the root production so we don't starve."

Delenn grimaced again. "Based on the taste, I think I'd rather go without."

She turned to go. "I'll leave you do it. Anything you need, just let me know."

She left Soran to his work and walked out into the cold valley. She could not be certain if it was day or night in the half-light but it seemed to match mood. There were two questions going through her mind. One, why go to all this effort to keep the crews alive? Would it not be more efficient to permanently remove the crews?

Two, she had no inkling of who their opponent was. Running through the possibilities but only one came to mind. They were a race called 'Drach'. They served the shadows during the last war but were now homeless after Zah'adum had been destroyed. They now existed as a nomadic tribe, raiding and stealing whatever they could.

"However mighty had fallen," mused Delenn. "Great conquerors reduced to thievery."

There was one thing that she was sure about. They're opponent was definitely targeting the white star ships. Otherwise, the Minbari flyer, which was being escorted, would have been captured as well. It had something to do with the organic compounds found within the white star's themselves.

She realised that there was nothing more she could do from here. It was her duty to keep morale high until help arrived. She looked up at the half starry sky and allowed herself to think of John and David for the first time.

"I hope you'll be able to hear me." She whispered.

* * *

" Mr Smith, " Douglas Ordered. "Follow Ivanova's directions until we've landed!"

"Aye Aye Sir."

Ivanova was busy watching the display screens. The Ark Royal was now 3KM below the surface of the planet, in one of the many canyons that criss-cross the surface of Epsilon III.

"Slow Speed to 100Kph." She instructed.

"Aye Aye Sir."

"Take the next opening to the left"

Again the acknowledgment from Mr Smith.

"Drop another 300 metres into the cavern."

The third 'Aye Aye' acknowledgment took her completely by surprise. She turned to Douglas.

"What is with the all the 'Aye Aye' ?" she whispered.

"Protocol," Replied Douglas. "A response to a superior officer's question to which the answer is yes, that is 'Yes, Sir.' A response to a direct order by a superior officer is always 'Aye Aye Sir.' "

"Even if they're female?"

"Yes, " Douglas confirmed. "We have no sex when were on-board ship."

There was an awkward silence, Ivanova looked incredulous for a second and then understood.

"So everyone is a Sir?"

"Yes." Douglas turned his attention to Kelly, who was hunched over her station trying desperately not to laugh out loud, "Something to add, Engineer Kelly?"

There was a desperate clearing of the throat and a cough, as Kelly brought herself under control.

"No Sir."

Ivanova was staring back at the screen, trying to control her own fit of giggles. Thankfully Clanwellin choose that moment to make his report.

"Got something Sir. It's looks like an umbilical port."

"That's it!" Confirmed Ivanova. "Can we dock with it?"

"Yes Sir."

"Then do so, Mr Smith." Ordered Douglas.

"Aye Aye Sir."

Ark Royal closed until the external lights showed the structure. It extended halfway out of the canyon wall and had a right-angled upturned end. Smith manoeuvred the ship over the top of it and slowly settled the ventricle dock port on it. There was a very gentile thump. There followed several more thumps as attachments locked on to the ship's hull.

"Sir!" Clanwellin was trying not to panic. "More attachments"

"Lets see." Douglas said as he called up the external view of the ship, "Looks like we're locked into some kind of platform. We're going nowhere for the moment."

"Not that we've got anywhere else to go anyway." Commented Kelly.

Douglas ignored her. "Right then, Bridge Crew, Ivanova and Lennier will be our landing party. Smith, you take Clanwellin and Kelly to get ready and meet me at the vertical dock. I'll get Lennier and have a quick word with Chief Tech Lennon."

* * *

Leaving a very bemused looking chief technician behind them, Douglas and Ivanova went to get Lennier.

"So what's the story behind this Draal fellow?" Douglas asked.

"He's a Minbari who took custody of this planet. He can be a bit overbearing but once you get past that he's actually very helpful." Explained Ivanova.

"Can you give me any hints to what's down here?"

"I can promise you that we're in no danger, as long as you behave yourself. But this place had got to be seen to be believed." Ivanova was enjoying the fact it was her turn to spring the surprises.

"Ok. Keep your secrets." Douglas said while smiling, "If this Draal is willing to keep my ship safe from the mad woman up there, I'd be willing to take a little on faith."

They arrived at Lennier's Cabin to find the Minbari meditating. To Ivanova, he looked very unsettled, not being able to hold his stance correctly.

"Are we disturbing you, Mr Lennier?" asked Douglas.

"No." the Minbari replied in his usual quiet voice. "I was just finishing this cycle."

"You willing to come with us round Epsilon III?" asked Ivanova.

"If you think I'll be of any help." He responded.

Ivanova raised her eyes to the ceiling in exasperation and sighed.

"Lennier, of course you are needed and stop acting as if you're the lowest rank here." Ivanova's voice started to rise as she realised how angry his attitude was making her.

"I, we, need you as you were. That is quick thinking and willing to come up with suggestions and ideas. This brooding has to stop. I'm not John or Delenn so don't let your problems with them get in the way of solving this situation we've found ourselves in. Now pack your stuff and meet the others at the ventricle dock."

The Minbari looked at Ivanova with open-mouthed shock. It was the same expression as Douglas, who had taken a step back just in case Ivanova exploded. Lennier stood, picked up his small bag, bowed very quickly and left without saying a word.

"Good motivational speech." Douglas said after she'd recomposed herself.

"Well, I reckon that we should only have one grumpy, broody sourpuss on this mission and I'm reserving that place by Captain's prerogative and the fact I'm Russian." She replied.

"Very well, after you Captain Sourpuss." Said Douglas trying not to laugh.

* * *

With Ivanova leading, all six of them waked the dusty red corridors of Epsilon three. It was getting hard to see with all the orange dust, which was covering the place.

"Are you sure you can remember the way?" Asked Lennier.

"Everybody asks me that question…" replied Ivanova.

"Because you can never remember the right way." Came a big booming voice.

All six turned to see a huge Minbari, over six feet tall and well built, grinning with an unnerving smile and the strangest glint in his eyes.

"Don't Worry, " he continued, "You are all welcome here."

Ivanova noticed that he seemed to look more at Lennier than anybody else when he said that. It was only then that Ivanova remembered exactly who Draal was. He had been Delenn's tutor and probably her oldest friend. There was also a good chance he knew all about the trouble with Lennier.

"Yes, All Welcome." He repeated. "You can remove your breathers from this point on. Ivanova, I'll send Zathrus to find you. Take the next left and wait." He grinned manically, bowed melodramatically and then disappeared. She took her breather off and then others followed suit. The commonwealth crew looked at each other in bewilderment.

"I didn't think that the Minbari had read C.S. Lewis. Wasn't that the Cheshire Cat?" observed Kelly.

They turned the next left into an alcove and it was there the commonwealth crew had their first look at the great machine. It's towers, which gleamed with the lights blazing in unrecognisable patterns and it's massive structures disappearing into the distance.

"Welcome to wonderland, Alice." Said Ivanova turned to the commonwealth crew.

"Doesn't that mean there will be a mad woman turning up and yelling 'off with your head' ?" commented Douglas wrily.

"Nah!" said Kelly, "She's too busy running B5."

"Ha, There you Are!" said yet another voice behind them. This time it belonged to a creature that Douglas had never seen before. He looked like a five-foot high raccoon standing on his back legs.

"Everyone?" said Ivanova. "This is Zathrus."

"Much Hello ness to you all." The creature said, "Draal says you follow me now." And with that he ambled off.

It took them half an hour to get to the centre. Touring though a maze of tunnels and walkways of machinery and light. Ivanova and Zathrus led the way, with Zathrus always muttering something under his breath.

Kelly walked next to Douglas. She looked around in wonderment, occasionally muttering some exclamation. It was the first time that Douglas had seen her looking at something with wide-eyed innocence. She looked absolutely radiant without her cynical mask

He quickly averted his eyes when she turned to look at him. Had she picked up on his feelings to her?

"Beats Farside doesn't it." She said.

"… and then some!" He agreed.

She turned away with a semi smile on her lips which left Douglas feeling confused as they followed the others round yet another corner. However, at the next sight he didn't know whether to be impressed or horrified.

They were situated in a huge cavern with a single structure in the centre. At the base, was a figure held in the shape of a crucifix. It was the same Minbari that they'd seen earlier. However, he was covered in dust and nobody could count the amount of wires and tubes that connected him to the machine.

"Ah, you've found me…" The Minbari faded into existence next to them.

"Draal. I thought you said you were going to dust yourself once in a while?" asked Ivanova, indicating his physical body.

The Minbari looked a little crestfallen. "I must admit, I'm not exactly looking my best, mostly because I'm not used to receiving visitors. However, I think once a week might be not too much to ask eh Zathrus?"

The raccoon type creature nodded and left. Douglas was sure he'd hear him muttering something along the lines of having enough to do.

"Erm Draal, I'm sure you know Lennier but the others are…" Ivanova started.

"From an organisation calling itself the Commonwealth." Draal beamed at them. "An escape attempt at the Battle of the Line. Organised by the Psi-Corp and approved of by the President herself."

"You know of us?" It was the loudest statement Douglas had ever heard Smith make.

"Don't worry." Boomed Draal with his manic grin, "Your secret is quite safe with me. Although the Sun-Gliders clan stills feels the disgrace from what happened with your BG Battle group."

"I hope that's not a threat." Replied Smith.

"Oh No." Draal looked almost affronted by the suggestion, "If I wanted to, they could have known you whereabouts nine or ten years ago. I'm just trying to prove to you that I can be trusted."

"Not like we have much choice." Grumbled Smith.

"Exactly!" replied Draal whist beaming a huge grin at all of them.


	17. Chapter 17

John Sheridan was in a fury. He paced his office like a caged animal. Number One was sat across from the desk he was pacing behind. This was one of the worst moods, she'd ever seen the President in and she'd wished that Delenn was here to calm him down a bit.

"That proves it then," he said pointing to the screen. "Ark Royal isn't the only one!"

Number One said nothing. In her experience it was better to let the Sheridan work off his anger before telling him the more important news. She'd just shown him a second intercepted film. As before, it was taken through the gun camera's of a White Star and it showed an encounter between two of these corvettes and three white stars.

Initially, the white start vessels had the upper hand, destroying one of the corvettes. In return, they had received little damage. However, the last corvette had fought light a demon. It only took a couple of minutes to destroy the alliance ships. Sheridan had watched the proceedings with outright anger that these vessels could slice through the galaxy's peacekeepers so easily.

He stopped pacing and stared at her. He recognised her behaviour.

"Oh, please tell me there isn't any more of this." He's calmed his voice extensively but Number One could still hear a simmering linger of rage in his voice.

"I have an unconfirmed report from Babylon 5…" Number One started hesitantly, "that Ark Royal paid them a visit."

"WHAT!" Sheridan turned almost purple.

He turned to the comm unit on his desk.

"Get Me Lockley!" he roared.

There was an arkward silence as the link was established.

"Lockley here, Mr President." The link was audio only and Lockley sounded very tired.

"Did we wake you?" Sheridan looked at the timepieces on the far wall and looked horrified as realisation struck.

"Yes Sir, I'm afraid you did. It's 3am here and I've only had two hours."

Maybe it was the fact that he'd just woken his ex-wife up at three in the morning or even the fact that they'd been so close in the past, he managed to let his temper go.

"Well, I'll be quick then. I hear you've had an extremely odd visitor lately."

"Ah." There was a pause, "Which one?"

"The one with the Ark Royal."

"I was wondering when you'd get to hear about that."

"I'd prefer to hear directly from you in the matter."

Lockley made a quick explanation, which made both Sheridan and Number One's head spin. A Lost Human Colony with technology on par with the most advanced the Alliance had to offer. It sounded like something out of a bad science fiction story or, even worse, out of Universe Today.

One thing that Lockley did leave out was any mention of Ivannova.

"So they're on Epsilon Three Now?" Sheridan asked.

"Yes Sir."

"And Draal didn't fire on them?"

"Not that we were able to tell."

"Very Well. Sorry to disturb your Sleep Captain."

"Good Night Mr President." And with that the link ended.

"Well, it should be a simple matter from here on." He told number one as he keyed in a code to the comm. unit.

"Draal. This is President Sheridan of the Interstellar Alliance. Can we talk?"

There was a pause. No response. Sheridan frowned as he spoke next.

"I repeat, this is President …"

A Voice came over the speakers.

"Much apologising. Draal, Zathrus and Zathrus and Zathrus and all the other Zathuses can't take this call at the moment. We're to busy contemplating the nature of the universe with correlation to the hyperspace matter curve to be of any help. If you leave a message after the beep, then we can get back to you."

There was a pause.

"Erm… Zathrus, which one is beep?"

Another quieter but similar voice "This one?"

There was the sound of what could only be described as elephant flatuance.

"No No No…. This one?" The voice sounded more optimistic.

A ships foghorn sounded so loud that both Number One and the President had to cover their ears.

There was the sound of Zathrus tutting to himself, "Wrong. Wrong! Aha!"

Beep!

John Sheridan had the look of someone who'd just been asked for a boiled hamster. He recovered well, after clearing his throat.

"This is President Sheridan of the Inters…."

"Zathrus thanks you for your message. Talk Soon. Bye."

It took all of Number One's self control not to laugh out loud. Sheridan now had the look of a man asked for a boiled hamster, with fries and a large coke to go. The silence was deafening. Sheridan sat down in his seat and entered a new code in the comm unit.

"What are you doing?" Number One asked.

"Something I should have done straight away." He replied, "I'm going looking myself."

* * *

Draal had put some rooms aside and after a pleasant night's sleep, the six guests met in a large conference area near to their rooms. It was unbelievably spacious after the cramped conditions on the Ark Royal. All six of them gathered around a table in the centre of the room to discuss their next move.

"So is that it?" asked Clanwellin. "Have we failed?"

"It does look like our options are limited," admitted Douglas. "It appears that Earth Force have ordered extreme sanction against any commonwealth vessel. I would say that avenue has been cut off."

"Well, if Lennier is willing to wait here, we could make a run to Minbar and talk to Delenn?" Suggested Ivanova.

"We've had to shoot down white star vessels. Do you think we've got a better chance than with earth?" said Smith. "Personally, I feel we'd really be putting our heads in the Lion's mouth."

"Just before it's had breakfast!" muttered Kelly under her breath.

"OK. What about this Garabaldi person? Can he help?" Douglas suggested.

"Well, he might," Ivanova looked pained, "you he has issues with Psi Corp…"

"We're Ex Psi Corp," said Clanwellin.

"That might not matter to him, your all telepaths." Ivanova explained.

"Never do anything easy, when you can do it backwards with a half summersault and twist." Kelly said, showing her irritation.

Douglas gave her a dirty look. "That's not exactly constructive."

"Well, you might be in some luck." Boomed Draal's voice as he appeared in the Room.

"Will you stop doing that," Kelly yelled. "You'd give me a feckin' heart attack!"

Drall looked at her strangely for a second and then smiled.

"According to the medical scan I just took of your body, you have no need to worry about your Cardio-vascular system."

"Oh! That's a relief." She said sarcastically.

"However, you're liver is more of a concern."

"Kelly, Cool your thrusters!" Douglas' voice had just enough edge to it that it stopped Kelly from exploding with anger. He turned his attention back to Draal.

"Some luck you said?" Douglas tried not to sound too hopeful.

"Well, I've received two messages," Draal explained. "The first was from President Sheridan…"

Lennier started.

"Relax," soothed Draal, still smiling. "He left a message with Zathrus, so it will probably take him a little while to calm down."

"Oh!" Ivanova looked pained. "That was just cruel!"

"Yes, I thought so." The glint in Draal's eye was back, and then his face took a more serious expression. "The second was from Delenn. It's a distress message."

Lennier's expression turned anxious.

"The signal is very weak and I've just found out why," explained Draal. "Are you familiar with this world?"

In the centre of the table a map of the Galaxy appeared. It zoomed into a group of systems not far from Babylon 5.

"That was the Markab home world." Said Ivanova.

"Was?" asked Douglas.

"A Plague wiped out all the Markabs." Explained Ivanova, shuddering as she remembered what happened to those poor people on Babylon 5.

"Ouch!" Kelly actually looked pained.

"Ouch indeed." Agreed Draal, "However, where we're interested in is ten light-years spinward to a …"

"That's a binary system," interrupted Smith. "And from the layout of those stars closest to it, I would say that there's a quantum singularity there."

"You'd be right!" All these interruptions were irritating Drall. "There is a black hole within that system."

The hologram shifted to zoom in on the system in question. There was a single bright yellow star with only two planets around it. Further over to the left, a large blue sphere denoting the black hole.

"The distress signal is coming from the second planet from the main star, but as you know, you'll need quite a lot of thrust to manoeuvre in that system."

"Can you pull up the Vas-Stone border please?" asked Douglas.

A second sphere appeared, expanding out from the Black Hole. It stopped expanding perilously close to the second planet. There was a hissing intake of breath from Smith.

"What's a Vas-Stone line?" asked Clanwellin.

"It's the point where you can't open a jump point. Your effectively trapped by the black hole." Explained Ivanova.

"And the Lagrange points?" asked Smith.

Several more points of light appeared, one very close to the second planet and practically on the Vas-Stone line. Kelly was shaking her head, Clanwellin just gaped opened mouthed and Smith turned to Douglas as if to say something and grimaced instead. Douglas just looked thoughtfully at the display in front of him.

"And that's your idea of luck?" Kelly said to Draal.

"But I didn't say whether is was good luck."

"Can I hear the message?" It was the first thing that Lennier had said all day.

Drall nodded.

"This is Entil, to any Ranger or Alli shipping. We are marooned at quadrent 19, 17, 28 in a black hole system and we need evacuation of almost 1000 personnel. Please Assist."

"A thousand?" Douglas looked shocked, "We'll be able to manouver round that system without a problem but we'd only be able to evacuate 10 to 20 at a time."

"Has anybody else received this message?" asked Lennier.

"I doubt it," said Draal, "This machine is incredibly powerful and even then we only just managed to pick it up."

"Well, I know where we can get the ships to pick them up." Ivanova was grinning, "That's if you're willing to come along for the ride."

"Why us?" asked Kelly

"Because someone will have to ride shotgun for those transports and I don't have anybody else I can trust."

Douglas pondered on the situation.

"Ok, Captain." He said after a pause, "You run the mission and co-ordinate the rescue party. Tactical command of Ark Royal will remain with me. This is on the condition that this Delenn person can do something to stop the attacks we've been facing."

"Deal." Said Ivanova, "Lennier would you be willing to go to Mars and convince Mr Garabaldi into lending us his test ships for the new Victory class destroyers."

Lennier nodded, "As long as I can get to Babylon 5, I should be able to get to mars quite quickly."

"Good. Ark Royal and I will secure the system."

"You're thinking a trap?" Douglas asked.

"Most certainly."

Ivanova turned to Draal, "Could you send a message to Delenn, saying that the message has been received and her hairdresser is putting together a rescue package?"

Draal looked puzzled by this but bowed and left.

"Here's my plan." She started to explain.

* * *

Colwin was sitting at his station in C&C on Babylon 5. The excitement of the last 48 hours had faded and he was now faced with the usual dull shipping control. He was just about to start clearing traffic through when his control panel pinged. He stared at it for a second.

"Captain to the Bridge, Ark Royal's making a move." He called.

But it was too late; Ark Royal had somehow evaded their sensors to the point that they were practically at the jump gate. Colwin keyed the reject code to the jump gate.

"You're going nowhere." He said with a smile.

Even though the jump gate had been keyed to reject any open request, a Jump point formed in it anyway and with a flash of Psuedo Motion, jumped to hyperspace.

"Colwin Report." Lockley's voice.

He looked where the ship had been and closed his eyes. He knew what was coming. The lieutenant turned to face the captain and prepared to face the worst.

"WHAT!"

* * *

However, in all the excitement, nobody had noticed the small capsule that had attached itself onto Brown 2's main airlock. It's single occupant smiled as they ejected the pod from inside the station.

* * *

On the black planet, Delenn was staring up at the starless side of the sky when she heard running footsteps. She turned to see Soran running as fast as he could, holding a piece of paper.

"We've got a reply." Soran was out of breath when he handed her the paper, "but I have no idea what it means."

Delenn read the message over twice and then realised it's meaning. She smiled for what felt like the first time in an age.

"Ivanova's coming." She said, "We're going to be just fine."


	18. Chapter 18

"Prepare FTL for transmission." Ordered Captain Clay.

"Admiral, as per your orders, we've been patrolling the systems nearest to the Quad System." He reported.

"So far, " he continued. "Of all the systems we've encountered, none have been able to support life. However, out initial scans show a great deal of natural recourses which we could utilise at a later date."

"There has been no contact with the any other of the known or unknown races and in my opinion, these systems are unmapped by any of the known galactic powers. There is the possibility, that the have been left alone for some reason but we haven't determined what that could be."

"We will complete our survey of the final system and report back to Portsmouth on or about three days time. Dreadnaught Out."

Clay signed off, sat back at his command console and hit the send button. He mused over the situation. As opposed to Douglas, he preferred a quiet bridge, so conversation with the rest of his officers was kept to an absolute minimum. He needed the silence to think.

As soon as Douglas and the Ark Royal had jumped system, the attacks had stopped. This had shocked the Admiralty just as much as the attacks did in the first place. So they called in Clay and the Dreadnought and ordered him to patrol the surrounding star systems. His orders said survey but both he and admiralty both knew that meant spying.

As all they had come across had been lifeless, but rich in minerals, rocks he hadn't had to do any of the latter but there were times he'd wished that something interesting would happen.

He also knew why it had been Ark Royal that had been selected for the first contact, or should that be re-contact, mission. Douglas was less aggressive and would only shoot if required to. In Clays opinion, that would put a ship in too much danger, and with the current situation he was convinced that his approach was right. Still, He knew deep down he was a little resentful of the fact that it was Douglas and the Ark Royal that had been sent out there and not his ship.

"Navigation, have we completed the la-grance point scan?" he asked.

"Yes sir, " replied the helmsman at the front of the bridge. "I've got eight and the closest is ten minutes away by LDS."

"Good." Clay grunted, "I want a quick exit if we need it."

"Aye Aye Sir!"

"Sir?" The Engineer required his attention. "I've got a contact at 12/3/22. I think it's a jump gate?"

"Aha!" exclaimed Clay, "Something interesting to look at people. Navigation set a course and kick the LDS."

"Aye Aye Sir."

Half an hour later, Dreadnought was floating a few Kilometres off the side of a huge jump gate. It looked ancient and alien, not anything like the old earth designs that the Dreadnought's crew was expecting.

"That, Gentlemen," explained Clay, "is what the older vessels used to jump to hyperspace."

"I don't recognise any of the markings, "said the gunner. "Do you think it still works?"

"Let's find out." Said Clay as he sent the command signal.

The gate began to vibrate and spark. The Navigator moved the ship slowly backwards. Finally, as if a great effort had been expended, the blue swirling vortex of a jump point formed within the gate.

"Bit shaky," observed the Engineer. "However, it is stable. Probably hasn't been used in years."

"Anything more to report on this system?" asked Clay.

"The nearest planet from here, is the last on the list," explained the navigator.

"One of the probe scans reported the possibility of Quantium 40." Said the Engineer.

"Helm, set course and engage LDS."

They were about halfway there when both the gunnery and command consoles bleeped urgently.

"Sir, we're going to have company." The gunner reported, "Lots of company."

Clay stared at his readouts.

"General Quarters." He ordered, "Prepare to run all power through the Engines."

"Ten… No Twelve jump points forming." The Engineer reported, "Looks like ten white star vessels and… Oh Lord."

"Two Minbari Cruisers." Finished Clay. So the Minbari were connected to those attacks.

"Sir, jump points are disrupting our LDS, we're going to have to go to thrusters." Said the Engineer.

"Gunnery, Enemy Position?"

"Dead Ahead Sir."

"Engineering, Balanced power spread. We're not going to be able to outrun them."

"Course sir?" asked Navigation."

"Straight through the middle of them!" ordered Clay.

* * *

Sheridan stood in the command centre of the Minbari Curiser, Diagaina. Once again, he couldn't help but be impressed with the Minbari technology that allowed this level of tactical awareness. He felt dangled in space with a full view of the surroundings. He'd used those moments to contemplate.

He was worried about Delenn, but not overly. He knew that, due to the time trip he took on Babylon 4, Delenn was at least safe until the visit Centari Prime sometime in the far future. However, the fact that their adversary had been able to make entire fleets of White Star vessels disappear wascause for seriousconcern.

They'd been hanging in hypespace, sending out patrols to act as bait when the Cruiser had detected the activation of a jump gate that had not been registered before. He went with his gut and plotted a jump point between the nearest planet in the system and the gate.

There hanging in space in front of him was one of those corvettes he'd seen in the recordings. He allowed himself a small smile.

"Gotcha."

* * *

Clay looked over his options. He remembered that due to the nature of Minbari Society, they would always carry out their last orders, unless that was countermanded. It was very rare for a Minbari to show initiative.

"Launch Squawker!" he ordered.

Dreadnought shuddered as something detached from the left wing.

"All ships are approaching firing range." Reported the gunner.

"Helm, corkscrew and then take course 150 by 27." Clay barked. "Stand by LSDI Mine."

"Targets two and three, locking on," replied the gunner. "Shield arrays are tracking."

"Engineering, Take over defence. Gunnery activate Squawker."

* * *

Sheridan ordered two of the white stars to close but not fire. The rest of the fleet began to spread out in an enclosure manoeuvre. He watched as the fleet began to close in like a giant claw grabbing prey.

The two white stars flew past the corvette without firing. However, the corvette just ignored them and held its course. The white stars locked in behind the corvette. It was at this point; Sheridan knew that something was wrong. No ship captain would ever let an opponent get onto they're six that easily unless there were very inexperienced.

"Fire Magnetic Pulse." He ordered.

There was no response.

"White Stars eighteen and nineteen. This is Sheridan. Fire your magnetic pulse."

There was still no response. The corvette was taking evasive action now but the white stars stayed on his tail like previously ordered. There was some kind of commotion behind him. He turned to see a ranger enter the control room.

"Mr President!" he called, he was out of breath. "We can't use communications."

"Internal or External."

"Both."

Sheridan turned to the view screen and then back to the ranger.

"Quickly, get all non-essential personnel. Line them up between here, the bridge and the engine room. They'll have to relay my orders."

The ranger turned and left at speed, that kind of manual relay will take time to set up, and looking at the situation, it was time he didn't have.

* * *

"Sir, we have two bogies on our six," reported the gunner, in a matter of fact voice, "They have locked on but have yet to fire."

"Engineering Status!"

"LDS is almost ready sir. ETR less than two minutes."

"Helm, shake them loose."

The Dreadnaught pitched and yawed, in a variety of manoeuvres. However, the White Stars stuck like glue.

"Did Ark Royal get the easy ones?" Clay commented out loud.

"LDS Ready." reported engineering.

"Drop the Mine."

* * *

Sheridan's order line was almost ready. He'd seen the corvette's attempts to evade the White Stars but it seemed that the White Star could match the corvette for manoeuvrability. He was analyzing as much of the vessel as he could. Equal in manoeuvrability, slightly faster and lighter armed. He couldn't see how these vessels could have taken the missing task force.

Then it happened, there was a flash from behind the corvette. The two chasing white stars, lost their pitch and elevation. They continued on course but obviously out of control.

"Aww Hell!" he muttered.

It wasn't his fault. He didn't know that the LDSI mine had also knocked out the squawker dropped by Dreadnaught earlier on. He didn't know that full communications had been restored to his ship and to every ship in the fleet. However, it was only afterwards did he remember that 'Aww Hell' when translated into Minbari means 'fire all weapons'.

That's what the fleet heard and that's what the fleet did. The Dreadnought disappeared in a flash of green light. That struck Sheridan as odd, but he didn't know why.

* * *

Clay looked round his crew.

"Close call people." He said.

"LDS running smooth." Reported the engineer.

"Right, quick pass at the forth planet and then use it's La-grange point."

Clay knew what this meant. A Minbari fleet had enclosed and fired on him, he'd even gone out of his way to use the non-lethal weapons in his arsenal. He would have to report that the Minbari were close to finding the location of the Quad System and they would have to prepare to meet them. He had no doubt that this would lead to war, regardless of what Ark Royal discovered. Only this time, Clay knew that the commonwealth's "Battle of the Line" would go very differently.


	19. Chapter 19

"Michael! I need something."

"Yes, hon!"

It was Michael Garibaldi's instant reaction these days. There was a sharp nudge to his ribs. He woke with a start.

"Ow!" He complained.

"There's something I need you to get." His wife prompted.

"Oh-kay." He blinked the sleep away from his eyes and caught a quick glance at the clock.

"04:30 am. What in god's name could she want at this time." He thought.

He forced himself to sit up in bed and take in his surroundings. Their room was dimly lit and Lize was lying above the covers in a long blue night dress. It was quite easy for Garibaldi to make out the large bump on her stomach that had been slowly growing over the last seven months. He looked at his wife and smiled.

"What do you want?"

"Chocolate." She replied.

"Easy." He said as he started to get up.

"And anchovies." She continued.

"Eh?"

"And melt the chocolate into the anchovies."

"Do you really know what you're asking for?"

"I'm not asking for it," she said with a smile. "The baby is."

"Ah. Emotional Blackmail?"

"Mmm Hmm."

"Works as always…" he got out of bed.

He was halfway through the door when he heard Lize calling after him.

"You know, if it weren't for those boxer shorts your wearing, then I wouldn't be in this position. I wouldn't be wanting chocolate and anchovies at this time in the morning. If you want something to blame, blame your shorts!"

He sighed as he walked down the hall to the kitchen. He'd grown used to the luxury he now lived in. After the six years of hell on Babylon 5, he reckoned on this being the reward. The corporation was doing very well. Mostly thanks to the close links with the Alliance. It appeared that they were the only corporation not to attempt to roll the Alliance over on contracts.

He found himself in the kitchen, the largest he'd ever had. Its huge stainless steel cooker was imposing, with two long work surfaces either side. Cupboards above and below held the many ingredients that he used in cooking. The centre of the room was dominated by huge work surface and dining table, which dwarfed the breakfast bar at the far end of the room.

He started to pull the food out of the fridge, when he noticed there was something wrong with the knives on the surface next to him. One of them was slightly out of position. It was only a small thing but it was enough for the old security hunches and paranoia to kick in.

He put the ingredients on the work surface and slowly got one of the knives out of the knife rack. He turned back to the ingredients and slowly pretended to cut them. He was sure he was being watched and without trying to look as if he knew he was being watched, he tried to scan the room.

There was a tap on his shoulder. Instinctively, Garibaldi threw himself backwards and connected with someone. He felt the satisfying thump as he rammed his opponent into the cooker. As his assailant felt backwards, something left his hand and smashed into the lights above. The room was suddenly very dark.

Garibaldi fought down the rising panic, still aware of the cold steel he had in his hand. He heard something to his left, a soft swishing sound. His opponent was wearing a cloak. He reversed the knife in his hand and listened for another sound of movement.

He just had to make it until his eyes adjusted to the dark. There was a swish to his left. He stabbed out in that direction but there was no contact. There was another sound to his right. He stabbed. Nothing.

"Where are you?" Garibaldi thought.

There was the sound of the cloak right in front of him. He stabbed again. The knife was painfully knocked from his hand. It felt like some kind of club. He tried not to yelp in pain and made a desperate grab for the club.

He got lucky, his un-injured hand grabbed the end of what could be some kind of staff. He pulled and it came free. There was another blow and the staff was thrown across to the other side of the room. A possibility of who his opponent might be popped into his mind but he dismissed it.

Garibaldi's eyesight began to improve; he could make out the general shape of his opponent moving around. He threw himself at his opponent, catching him off guard. The both collapsed in a heap with Garibaldi on top. He swung his fist in and it connected. There was a sickening crack of bone. It took a few milliseconds for him to realise that it was his hand that had made that sound. His opponent was definitely a Minbari, maybe even a ranger with that staff.

He was thrown off and backed into the main worktable. He quickly turned to avoid a follow on blow. He heard the rip of his boxer shorts as he turned away. They must have caught on something. He didn't care his opponent had over extended himself.

Garibaldi grabbed the arm and the old earth force training kicked in. He twisted the arm into a lock and threw his opponent into the floor. He landed on top of his opponent. There was a grunt as he felt the impact.

"Emergency Lights!" A voice called.

"Lize! No! Get Out!" Garabaldi shouted.

The loom lit up in with a dim glow. Lize stood over the pair of them, aiming a PGG at the pair of them.

"Michael, why are you lying on top of a Minbari butt naked?" There was a slight smile that played over her lips.

"You Minbari," she ordered, "You'd better not move. Even I can't miss from this range."

"Yes Ma'am." came the reply.

Garibaldi recognised the voice, it confirmed his suspicions from earlier.

"Oh Frag. Lennier?"

"You know him?" Lize exclaimed.

Garabaldi stood up and picked up the Minbari's staff.

"You remember him hon, " he explained. "He was Delenn's aide and honour guard on Babylon 5."

"Oh yes. I also remember that there's a big reward for him. Something about almost killing your buddy Sheridan."

"I didn't try and kill him," said Lennier. "However, I did leave him when I shouldn't have."

"What you decided to have a go at us instead? You break into our house, get into a fight with my husband and stop me from have anchovies and chocolate."

Lize's voice rose in volume, the angrier she got

"You not making a very good impression if you ask me." She was practically yelling at this point.

"Honey, there no need to get excited." Garabaldi warned.

"What?" She was now pointing the PGG at her husband.

"Ermm. Think about the baby," He said soothingly. "And your pointing the gun at the wrong person."

Lize blinked and realised what she was doing. She quickly pointed the gun back at the Minbari.

"Lize. Can you give me the gun and then go get me a new pair of pants?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'll call security when you get back. Unless he's got a damn good reason for all that."

"Acctually…" it was as far as Lennier got.

"Shut up you." Lize's aim started to waver over Lennier.

"Honey?" Garabadi directed her attention back to him. "The Gun?"

She handed the gun over to him when he got close enough. Garibaldi looked down at it. It still had the safety on. He shuddered to think if this had been a different circumstance.

"Now my pants?" he requested.

"Oh right." She said as she left. "Pity, I was enjoying the view."

Garibaldi motioned for Lennier to sit up at the breakfast bar. He got up and limped over to the bar. Garabaldi tried not to be shocked by how much older he looked.

"It's the hormones," explained Garabaldi. "It makes women even more unpredictable than usual."

"Wouldn't know." Replied Lennier as he gingerly sat down in the chair.

Lize returned with pants and a shirt for her husband. The gun was handed over and after a quick change; Garibaldi was once again pointing the gun at Lennier.

"Ok, Lennier, after all we've been through," warned Garibaldi. "I'm giving you five minutes before I call security and they'll hand you over straight to the Alliance."

"Ivanova sent me."

"Susan?"

"Is there any other?"

"Don't be funny."

Lennier sighed. "That wasn't meant as a human joke. She's in a difficulty situation and, like me, has no official channels that she can call for help through."

"Oh?"

"It will take more than the five minutes you've given me to explain."

"Let's just say you've got an extension."

It took twenty minutes for Lennier to explain the whole situation. He felt he was telling the same story over and over again. However, his audience was captivated. By the end of it, Garibaldi had placed his PGG on the work surface.

"Ok, one thing," said Lize. "How do we know that this is from Ivanova?"

"She asked me to remind you of a joke that you played on her with Val…" He paused, remembering, "Sorry, Commander Sinclair in the mess once."

"And?"

"She said that you'd be a dead man. And if you didn't help her she'd make good on that promise."

Garibaldi tried not to smile.

"And that's from this Ivanova? More Theats." Lize sounded incredulous.

Garibaldi realised that his wife and his old friend had never really met. He shook his head. Ivanova took a long time to get to know but when you knew her, you could read her like a book.

"No threats. What does she need?"

"We need the Victory Classes' test vessels to evacuate the rangers."

"Big ask." said Lize.

"The victory class isn't going to be ready for another year." Explained Garibaldi.

"No, the engine test ships. Only they have the power to weight ratio to get the rangers of that planet. Look, I'd apologise until I walked down to the sea for the way I attracted you attention."

Lennier looked down at his feet in shame.

"Where I've been for the last four years, well I've forgotten how to ask."

There was a silence that stretched for minutes. Once again this quite, reserved minbari had regained Garibaldi's respect. He looked over at Lize. She nodded. They both understood the implications of standing by and doing nothing.

"Ok, Lennier." Garibaldi said. "You've got those ships."

"Another playing piece is added to the game." Said lennier quietly to himself.


	20. Chapter 20

"Secure from Yellow Alert." Douglas ordered.

He could see Clanwellin lean in close to his console and relay the order to the rest of the crew.

"Six days and no sign," muttered Douglas.

"Give Lennier a little more time," replied Ivanova. "It takes a while to get to Mars and back."

"I'm not worried about Lennier doing his job," returned Douglas pleasantly. "I was wondering why we've had no enemy contact yet."

Ark Royal had patrolled the outer reaches of the Black Hole system as quietly as she could. Douglas had ordered full stealth protocols as soon as they'd dropped into the system. However, this meant that using the active sensors were out of the question and that left the passives.

In the last six days, there hadn't been anything that could be interpreted as a jump point or even a moving ship. Not even a single energy spike. Both Ivanova and Douglas had expected an overwhelming enemy presence and had been taken by surprise by the lack of activity.

"Perhaps White Stars can't navigate in this high gravity environment," suggested Kelly.

"Yes they can," replied Ivanova. "They've got the highest power to mass ratio of any ship I've seen. Apart from Garibaldi's test ships."

Kelly said nothing and turned backed to her station. There was no comeback, no sarcastic comment and it was worrying. Douglas had noted that Kelly had been getting more agitated over the last few days. It appeared more evident when Ivanova was around. She'd also completely closed her mind and seemed different when off duty. He promised himself to have a word with her when he could.

"I'm getting a tight beam transmition," announced Smith. "It's from Lennier."

"Put him on," ordered Douglas.

A small communication window opened on Douglas' display. However, it wasn't Lennier's face that appeared. It was a bald human with alert eyes and a cynical expression.

"This is Captain Douglas of the CVN Ark Royal, please identify yourself."

"Michael Garibaldi," the face announced. He turned to face off camera. "Lennier? What's the password?"

The Minbari came into view and, looking embarrassed, said "Cheezy Puffs!"

Ivanova slowly turned to Douglas. "That's your idea of a password?"

"Would you have guessed?" retorted Douglas with a small smile.

"Susan?" Michael called. "I can't see you."

Ivanova moved closer to Douglas so she could get into shot. So close, she was practically touching. Douglas noticed Kelly staring at them.

"Cosy" she muttered and endeavoured to stare at her console closer.

"Hi Garibaldi," said Ivanova." Glad you could make it."

Garibaldi smiled, "When one of my friends has extreme sanction ordered against her and I receive a visit from our ex-ranger here. I just had to see what mess you'd got your self into."

"You couldn't resist could you," replied Ivanova with a smile.

"Well, it was this or a shareholders meeting."

"You are the solitary shareholder."

"I get bored talking to myself."

Ivanova groaned inwardly at the joke.

"This is Captain Douglas. He's our escort."

"Lennier has explained the situation. I'm dubious about this whole missing colony thing but if Delenn's down there and you're on side." He paused. "Hey, I'm here ain't I?"

"Captain," called Clanwellin. "Jump points forming."

"That you Mr Garibaldi?" asked Douglas.

"Nope, we're holding off for the all clear."

"They could have picked up our transmition?" offered Kelly.

"Smith, what have you got?"

"I'm not sure but it might be six or eight black stars," Smith replied. "There are a couple of asteroids about 2000 k from here. I could use them for cover."

"If you could be so kind," Douglas affirmed.

"They could still detect us if they get close enough," said Clanwellin.

"Not if we shut down all systems," retorted Kelly. "We shut down and they can't tell the difference between us and those rocks."

"And how are we supposed to fight them from there." Clanwellin began to sound angry.

"Settle down you two!" Douglas raised his voice. "How long to power up after a shutdown?"

"45 seconds," reported Kelly.

"Confirmed," Announced Smith. "All Eight are headed this way. ETA two minutes. Reckon they'll spot us in 1 minute 30."

"Kelly, once we're in position, commence shutdown. Everything except internal comms. What effect would a disrupter missile have if we're shut down?"

"None." She paused, "Erm. There shouldn't be but I'm not 100 sure."

"Are the disrupter warheads compatible with a seeker mine?"

"I dunno," She replied. "No-one's ever hotwired the two systems before."

"Well, you have a minute to find out, once we're shut down."

"Clanwellin, Go with her and get ready to launch it on my command. Twenty Second Fuse. Kelly, you get back up here as soon as you're done. We'll need a quick restart."

"In position," reported Smith.

"Right, execute orders."

"Aye Aye Sir." Both officers left the bridge.

"Bit of inspiration from your Captain Sheridan, I believe." Douglas said aside to Ivanova.

"Well, it will prove that these ships aren't flown by Rangers," commented Ivanova. "One of the first things John trained them to do was to avoid this very trap."

They turned their attention to the viewports. As the power had gone, the only thing they could use was they're eyes. The asteroid, that Smith had parked the ship next to, span lazily. In the distance, stars and a nebula could be seen quiet clearly. Every variation of the colour blue cold be seen swirling in the distance.

"It's amazing to find something so pretty when your life is in danger." Ivanova said quietly.

"We have no time to stop and stare…" quoted Douglas.

"That was easy," Kelly's voice announced from the intercom. "I'm coming back. Clanwellin is waiting for the word."

A shadow began to block out the Nebula. They could all make out the silhouette of a black star. It slowed in, lighting up the local area with what looked like a search light.

"Active sensors on narrow scan," explained Ivanova. "They certainly think someone is here."

"We know they're right." Commented Douglas, "I just hope they don't think they are."

Kelly ran back onto the bridge and sat at her station. Another shadow joined the first.

"When?" asked Ivanova nervously?

"When I decide." Replied Douglas, as a third black star silhouette joined them.

A tense few minutes followed as the first three was joined by another five.

"Eight!" whispered Smith, "I think that's it, sir."

"OK. Clanwellin Launch Seeker," whispered Douglas, "and get up here double time."

"Aye Aye Sir," he acknowledged. "Seeker away!"

"Kelly, start the count and system restart at detonation plus 1 second."

"15 seconds sir."

"Nobody look out the view port, this is going to be bright."

"You don't have sun shields?" asked Ivanova.

"They need power."

Kelly reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of shades. She turned and smiled at Douglas.

"That's forward planning for you." commented Douglas wryly. "Remind me to issue a demerit for improper uniform."

Kelly just grinned back, "ten seconds"

Clanwellin burst into the bridge and threw himself into his seat.

"Five Seconds."

"Fire in the hole." Douglas called ship wide.

"Four Seconds."

"One's got us." called Smith. "They're turning to lock."

"Three Seconds."

"Lock Achived."

"Two Seconds."

"Energy Spike."

"One."

"Cover your eyes, don't look!"

"Mark"

There was a blinding green light. Ark Royal shook as the shockwave hit. There was an audible click as the disruptor took out the internal communications. Douglas opened his eyes.

"Restart in 40 Seconds."

There were all eight Blackstars floating front of the ships, blue and green lighting sparking off their hulls. Two of them, gently bumped into each other.

"How long till they restart?" Douglas asked Ivanova.

"I dunno," she replied. "Never seen that happen before."

"Kelly, place priority on the PBC, then thrusters. Shields last."

"25 seconds to PBC." She reported, watching the console.

"Clanwellin. Set for Rapid Fire PBC as soon as you have power," ordered Douglas. ""

"The one at the far left, it doesn't seem to be affected as bad as the others," reported Smith. "I think it's going to try to run."

"PBC Online." said Kelly.

"Fire," ordered Douglas. "I don't want any of them left!"

Ark Royal's forward gun opened up. At this range it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Ship after ship was racked with plasma, each in turn exploding under the onslaught.

"We have thrusters," reported Kelly.

"That last ship is moving off," called Smith.

"Got the rest sir," said Clanwellin.

"After him Smith."

Ark Royal jumped forward like a greyhound after a rabbit. The Black star was obviously damaged but appeared to be pouring all its power into its engines.

"Fire Seeker Missile."

Ark Royal shook as the projectile left the magazine. The crew could make out the vapour trail as it homed in on its prey. There was a small explosion in the distance.

"Gotcha!" called Clanwellin.

"That's a confirmed kill." reported Smith.

"Did they get any messages away?" asked Douglas.

"Not that I could detect," replied Kelly. "Shields are now online."

"No jump point activity though."

Douglas turned to Ivanova, "What do you think?"

"Might as well." replied Ivanova, she keyed the link. "Michael! Now!"

Three yellow jump points formed as the prototype ships came through. They were ugly things, three times bigger than Ark Royal. They consisted of one huge engine and a control centre. They turned ungainly for the planet.

"Ask for permission to dock," asked Douglas. "I would like Lennier back on board."

Ivanova nodded and relayed the request.

"Sure, no problem," replied Garibaldi. "Are you coming over to us?"

"No," replied Ivanova. "I want to see how this plays out."

"Ok, we're on the centre transport."

Ark Royal, pulled closer to the centre ship. She pulled onto her back and docked her dorsal port onto the bigger ship. Both Ivanova and Douglas were at the port when it was opened. Lennier clambered through and nodded to Douglas as he came on board. Garibaldi appeared at the docking hatch.

"Last chance?" He said to Ivanova.

"Michael, I can't risk going anywhere near Earth Force or the Alliance." explained Ivanova. "Not until they rescind that extreme sanction order."

Garibaldi grimaced and then nodded in understanding.

"One last thing," called Ivanova. "Don't tell Delenn that Lennier was here."

He signalled an affirmative as the hatch door closed.

"Disengage Dock." Douglas ordered over the comm.

They all walked back up to the bridge in silence. Douglas observed that Lennier looked a lot less tense than when he originally met him. It appeared that this little adventure had raised his spirits. He was no longer the brooding, paranoid individual he'd first met.

The Bridge was quiet as they entered. It was just the usual bleeps and whistles from the command consoles Douglas sat down with the two guests either side of him, strapped into the VIP seats.

"We hold position here," ordered Douglas, "Kelly, full power to the sensors and everyone keep your eyes peeled."

The three huge ships made their way towards the planet. They were following the beacon signal that the rangers were broadcasting.

"Transports are entering the Black Hole's Gravity Well!" reported Kelly.

The three ships turned a strange angle and fired their engines.

"They'll have to do that till they almost land," commented Ivanova.

"Now, all we can do is wait," said Douglas.

* * *

Delenn had cleared everybody into the caves. The code from Ivanova had come though about ten minutes ago. She's done her best to keep the flagging morale up over the last week; she was quite relieved that it was almost over. Almost a couple of weeks on those damn roots was enough to drain the vigour from anybody.

Looking into the sky, she could see three small lights. She reckoned that they were the rescuers. They slowly grew in size over the next couple of minutes. It was only when they were close did she recognise them.

"In valen's name." she muttered, as the first of the three of the Victory Test ships landed in the next valley over. Even here, the noise and the heat from the landing was almost unbearable.

She quickly organised the rangers and they made their way over to the landing site. The going was tough; the ships had kicked up a lot of dust. Everyone was tired and quite as they made their way through this dirty cloud.

"Entil Zha?" called a voice.

"Over here," she called back.

A human ranger came into view. He bowed as soon as he saw her.

"Could you follow me?" he asked. "Mr Garibaldi would like you to join him on the lead ship."

"Michael?" she sounded astonished.

The column of rag tag rangers made their way to the first ship and the crew-members of the ships welcomed them aboard. Delenn allowed herself to be guided to the bridge.

Garibaldi was sat, feet up on a control desk, at the rear of the ship.

"Oh Michael," she said, "Am I so glad to see you."

"And you look like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards." He replied.

"So what's the plan?"

"Well, we wait until we've got everybody onboard and then if Ivanova says so, we make a run for it."

"What ships is she using? The enemy can disable White Stars far too easily."

"Our White Star's are not going to be the problem. It's the ones that they use."

"I suspected they were after the ships themselves."

"You don't know the half of it. They've been used for piracy and they're focusing attacks on an unknown system on the rim."

"Does John know?"

"As far as I know, no," he replied. "But the situation is a little more complicated than that."

"We have time," she said. "Let's start at the beginning."


	21. Chapter 21

Ark Royal hung in space close to the gravity well of the planet. Garibaldi's test ships had been on the planet for a couple of hours with no signals. Douglas had spent the time reviewing the ordinance and talking with the crew about their various duties for the up-coming days.

"Incoming signal," reported Clanwellin.

"Send it through," Douglas acknowledged.

The communication window opened again on Douglas's control console. An attractive woman stared straight back at him. She had thoughtful brown eyes and wore a stern expression. Her long brown hair flowed over what looked like a Minbari Bone structure at the back of her head. He realised that this must be Delenn.

His first reaction was horror, the enemy could now transform into almost human. The reaction passed, he found he no longer thought of the Minbari as an enemy. He reasoned that he had Lennier to thank for that. He also remembered that Lennier didn't want to be seen by Delenn. He quickly turned the console camera to include Ivanova.

"This is Captain Douglas of the Commonwealth Vessel 'Ark Royal'." He announced. "I take it you are Delenn."

"Yes, Captain Douglas." She replied. "I like to thank you on behalf of the Rangers and the Alliance for coming to our assistance."

Douglas smiled but without humour. "I'm afraid this assistance comes with a price, Delenn. We need you to call off, or assist in repelling, the attacks on our home system."

"Yes, Mr Garibaldi has brought me up, as you say it, to speed with the whole situation," She paused. "However, things appear to be graver than you think."

"There is a surprise," muttered Ivanova.

Delenn smiled. "Yes Susan. It always seems that way doesn't it."

"How are you?" asked Ivanova.

"Fine, apart from a diet that makes John's cooking taste good."

Ivanova pulled a face.

"But, the real problem is these vessel's your fighting aren't the Alliance's anymore," Delenn continued. "Our ships are captured by the use of some viral weapon that shuts them down. The crews were dropped off at this planet."

"How many White Stars have we lost?" asked Ivanova.

"About sixty."

Douglas turned aside to Clanwellin, "What are the Black Star losses that we know of at this moment?"

"Black Stars?" asked Delenn.

"It's our handle for your corrupted ships," replied Douglas. "Captain Ivanova told me that they weren't flown by your people, I'm now satisfied that is the case. However, we have to get you and your people out of here and then contact our respective governments to make sure no misunderstandings occur."

"Mr Garibaldi has told us that we're ready for lift off," She confirmed. "We'll be in orbit before you know it."

The communication window closed. Several small icon's appeared on the command console.

"That's the three test ships taking off," he explained. He noticed Lennier had said nothing about the conversation they'd just had with Delenn.

"Are you ok?" he inquired.

"Surprisingly, yes," Lennier said. "It was difficult to see her but it was no where near as bad as I feared."

"Good," he replied. "Because, if we get through this, I'll have an offer to put to you."

Douglas left the thread hanging. Ivanova looked at Lennier quizzically but all Lennier could do was shrug. The transports cleared the atmosphere and started heading for the best jump point.

"Sir?" It was Clanwellin.

Douglas nodded.

"I've calculated their losses, including our kills, Captain Clay's and Captain Ivanovas," he said.

"And …"

"Well, 17 Sir."

"Leaving at least 43."

"Yes, Sir."

A knot filled Douglas' stomach. This was a trap and he'd walked right into it. The Rangers were bait. Any rescue party was to be attacked, probably when they were leaving the planet. Get them all in one go. In addition, you'd have to use some of your most advanced ships in order to perform a rescue in the first place. Eliminate those ships and you weaken your opponent both in recourses and morale.

Both Ivanova and Douglas had assumed that they'd have to fight their way into the system, not have to fight they're way out.

_How could I have been so stupid, _he thought to himself.

"Battle Stations." He ordered.

There was no doubt or hesitation from the crew as to his orders.

"Mr Clanwellin!"

"Sir?"

"Tactics exercise. If you're the enemy, when would be the best time to attack us?"

"Erm, just after the transports have cleared the gravity well, Sir. Our transports will be building up power to their jump engines…"

"Leaving them as sitting ducks." breathed Ivanova.

"Yes ma'am."

"Let's call that position, waypoint 'trouble'," said Douglas. "How long until the transports are in trouble?"

"ETA to trouble, 2 minutes sir."

"Hey, you could have a waypoint just before it called 'Oh Shite!'" said Kelly. "Then you could have 'Oh Shite, now we're in trouble.'"

"Captain, Multiple jump points forming at bearing Zero-Eight-Six-Zero-Two-Five" Called Smith.

"How many?"

"Two sir."

Douglas reviewed the tactical situation on his console.

"Nope, they're trying to draw us off." He said, "Let me know if they're coming after us."

Sure enough, a couple of Black Stars emerged from the jump points, flew around for a few seconds and then jumped away again.

"More jump points," called Clanwellin. "Bearing One-Seven-Three-Zero-Two-Five."

"How many?"

"Eight Sir!"

"Distance?"

"20 km"

"Arm a REM!" ordered Douglas.

"Gunnery asks for confirmation of a REM Missile," queried Clanwellin.

"First Officer confirms REM Launch."

"Aye Aye Sir. Loading in ten seconds."

"Patch it through to my console."

"Aye Aye Sir."

"REM Missile?" asked Ivanova.

"Remember those fusion missiles I threatened Lockley with?"

"You weren't joking?"

"Both a Captain and his First have to authorise a launch."

"We have the same when we launch nukes but we don't use Fusion missiles, they're far too unstable."

"Ours are stable, but you're going to see just how unstable they can become."

"Enemy is staying in formation and heading straight for us." reported Smith.

"REM Loaded."

Controls appeared at the command console. Douglas grabbed hold of them.

"Clanwellin, Launch REM. Smith, Go evasive."

The command console showed a missile eye view. Douglas turned the controls and the missile responded. The enemy black stars showed up on command console as the missile approached. Douglas waited until they were 4 KM away from the missile and then pulled the missile in a 180, its main engine slowing the missile's speed down. The Black Stars ignored it and headed straight for the Ark Royal.

"All Hands, brace for impact."

When the Black Stars were only 500 metres away from the missile, Douglas pressed a small red button on the main control column. There was a huge flash, even through the viewport dimmers. The shockwave hit a second later. Ark Royal was thrown into a roll. Smith wrestled with the controls for a few seconds and brought the ship level.

"Enemy status?"

"Eight destroyed sir!"

"Damage?"

Kelly scanned her boards.

"Apart from a small short to the aft PBC, we're fine sir."

"Eight down, Thirty Five to go." Ivanova said.

"Wasn't that a little too much?" asked Lennier.

"Never use too little fire power to take out an enemy," said Douglas.

The communication window opened. Garibaldi looked almost panicked.

"What the hell was that! Are they nuking us?"

"No Michael." replied Ivanova. "Apparently, we're nuking them."

"Ark Royal is carrying nukes?"

"Nope, Fusions." Replied Douglas. "Get your ships out of here as quick as you can Mr Garibaldi, we might have to use another one."

Garibaldi paled at that statement, nodded and then terminated the link.

"Transports in trouble in thirty seconds." reported Smith.

"Oh, Sod it." Douglas swore. "Arm another REM!"

"Aye Aye Sir. Gunnary asks for confirmation of a REM Missile." Clanwellin sounded a little more unsettled that the previous time.

"First confirms." Smith said quietly.

"Loading REM, Ready for launch in ten seconds"

"Another one?" asked Ivanova, "How many have you got?"

"Two left after this one. They're going to swarm us."

"REM ready."

Ark Royal circled the transports like a lioness protecting her cubs. The transports began to slow as they approached their jump point. Small jets of propellant was visible as they began to slow. Ark Royal moved away as to keep away from any forming jump points.

"Jump Points Forming." Called Clanwellin, "Bearing One-Eight-Zero-One-Eight-Zero."

"How Many?"

"Fifteen."

"Bring us to zero-four-five and launch REM."

"REM away."

"Go Evasive and brace for impact"

Douglas twisted the controls at his console violently. The missile flew straight into the Black Star formation. The readout reported distance to target of a couple of hundred meters. Douglas pressed the detonation button. Pure white light blinded everyone on the bridge. The shockwave hit and the crew were almost thrown from their seats. Smith brought the ship stable.

"More jump points forming, Baring dead ahead. Looks like another ten." Clanwellin was beginning to panic.

"God, they don't know when to give up do they?" said Kelly.

"No tactics, just straight in." observed Ivanova.

"Makes it easier for us," replied Douglas. "Another REM please, Load the rear tube!"

"First confirms." called Smith before Clanwellin could say anything.

"Straight though them Mr Smith, full thrust until I countermand."

"Aye Aye Sir."

Ark Royal's main engine kicked in, forcing the artificial gravity to catch up. The crew were thrown back into their seats be the acceleration. The Black Stars quickly closed as Ark Royal flew straight at them. They fired, a couple of minor hits were glanced away by Ark Royal's LDA shields. Under Smith's control, Ark Royal dodged in and out between the lines of fire coming from the enemy. Then they were through, all the black stars turned to follow they're fleeing prey.

"REM ready."

"Launch."

"Sir, even more Jump Points." Clanwellin reported, "REM away."

"Smith Go evasive and head to the new jump points."

Douglas brought the missile in to the centre of the perusing pack and detonated the missile. This time the blast was nowhere near as violent as the previous and, yet again, there wasn't a trace left of the enemy vessels.

"Shall I load the remaining REM sir?"

"First recommends it sir," said Smith. "I confirm eight Black Stars and an unknown vessel, cruiser size. They're heading right for us sir."

"What's the status on the Transports?"

"Garibaldi reports that they're almost ready to jump. Another 2 minutes."

"Load REM."

Douglas reviewed the situation.

"That's poor tactics," he commented. "I would have split my forces and hit us and the transports at the same time."

"Unless, we're the target and they don't care about the others." observed Ivanova.

"Kill the only ones who know the whole truth and that will die with them." said Lennier.

"Right," Douglas grimaced, "Let's see how bad they want us. "

The Black Star's pulled away from the bigger ship, on a direct intercept course with Ark Royal. The cruiser came into view. It looked brown and organic, like a giant cockroach. The front of it had several cannon's visible, with bulging gun ports all down its back, but the most distinctive feature were the two huge grabbers, next to the gun ports at the front.

"Eww, they're not going to win any beauty contests with that thing," said Kelly.

"REM Loaded."

"Launch REM and reload with as many seeker missiles as we can."

Douglas twisted the controls to bring the missile into line. Yet again, the Black Stars ignored the projectile until it was almost among them. He pressed the detonation stud for the last time. This time there was no shockwave as the explosion was too far away. The remaining Black Stars vanished within the expanding ball of light. However, the cruiser emerged relatively unscathed from the explosion.

"It wasn't within the blast radius," muttered Douglas. "It was either the cruiser or the Black Stars. Couldn't get both."

"LDA's are tracking the cruiser." reported Kelly.

"Launch Disrupter."

A different kind of missile flew from the magazine. It snaked towards the cruiser and hit it amidships. The Cruiser's main guns choose that second to open fire. The shots went wide but it began a constant stream of fire coming from all of the cruiser's guns.

"No effect," reported Clanwellin.

"Really?" said Kelly sarcastically.

Smith kept Ark Royal one-step ahead of the guns tracking them.

"Launch Seeker."

The missile had no problem hitting its target. The cruiser wobbled under the impact but carried on.

"Slight damage." said Kelly.

"How many seeker mines have we got?" asked Douglas.

"Seven left sir."

"Smith, make a close head to head pass. Clanwellin, I want a burst release of all our mines, Rear Pod."

"All of them Sir?"

"Clanwellin!" Douglas warned.

"Aye Aye Sir." The younger man's hands flew over his console. "Burst ready!"

Ark Royal flipped onto her back and turned towards the Cruiser, her lateral thrusters firing, to avoid the torrent of projectiles coming from the larger ship. Ark Royal shook as a couple of shot's found their mark.

"LDA's holding up, No Damage." Kelly shouted.

"Launch Mine Burst."

Ark Royal passed within metres of the Cruiser. As she did so, seven small packages were released from the rear of the ship. They homed into the larger ship and exploded on impact. Flashes of light appeared all over the big ship and it shook under the multiple impacts. It's guns fell silent for a few seconds.

"She's severely damaged. Sir!" reported Clanwellin.

"Oh-Ho!" warned Kelly. "It's repairing itself incredible fast, we won't have much time."

"180 Pitch, Another Run Mr Smith," ordered Douglas.

Ark Royal flipped over again, propellant flaring from her main engine. She lined up with the Cruiser again, just as the cruiser oriented itself for a head to head run.

"We going to play chicken?" asked Kelly.

The ships were ten seconds apart, at that point the front guns fired from the front of the cruiser. Ark Royal buckled under the impact.

"Weapon systems hit, ETR twenty seconds," reported Kelly.

"All power into the shields." ordered Douglas.

The ship shook again and lights dimmed from the cabin.

"Straight through him, Mr Smith. All Hands brace for ram!"

A quarter of a second before collision, Douglas hit a control on his command console. The dorsal and ventricle LDA, pointed directly forward and went into sheer mode. A purple, blue semi-sphere formed in front of Ark Royal as she plunged into the cruiser.

Ark Royal smashed through the larger vessel, leaving a gaping hole straight through it. Explosions and overloads fired all over Ark Royal's Bridge. There were yells of pain from the Gunnery station. Ark Royal began to pitch uncontrollably.

"Kelly, Get our Manoeuvre back."

Douglas surveyed his bridge. Smith and the guests were fine. Clanwellin was slumped in his seat. Kelly was slowly operating her console, looking very pale. The enemy vessel came into view. It was slowly disintegrating in a series of small explosions. He unclipped his safety harness and moved as quickly as he could over to Clanwellin. He was alive but unconscious.

"Captain," Mr Smith called, "Good news and bad news."

"What's the good?" Douglas replied. Clanwellin appeared to be stable, he went over to check on Kelly.

"Enemy destroyed and the transports have jumped."

"Bad News?"

"We're in the gravity well, unless we've got thrusters and LDS back on-line. We're going to find out what happen happens in a black hole."

He reached Kelly. It was only then he noticed the blood on the console. She was only using one hand to issue the repair orders, the other clutched her chest, blood was flowing freely over it.

_No No No._ Douglas pleaded.

_Too late Philip, _he felt Kelly's presence in his mind, _you need to order the LDS repair. My hands don't work too well._

"Medic to the Bridge!"

_Get the LDS repair!_

Douglas issued the order through the console. He then grabbed her hand. The pain was almost overwhelming but he knew from the moment his hand touched, that she barely had seconds left.

"LDS on-line." Called Smith

"Head for the Lagrange point and jump." Douglas ordered

_Oh Kelly, I'm so sorry!_

_Phillip. I know. _She smiled slowly, _You need to work on your shielding better._

_I wish I could have told you._

_Your loss, it would have been great…_

The connection faded and her hand relaxed.

Douglas wouldn't let go of her hand, even when the medic arrived.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

John Sheridan was woken by a knock on his stateroom door. Normally on these Minbari cruisers, he'd sleep in the dormitory with the other crewmembers but on this occasion he'd made a special request to the Ship's captain to have some privacy. He'd even managed to set the bed flat so he could get, what he'd hoped, was some restful sleep.

He'd been mistaken and the knock on the door was just the climax to a restless night. He'd been talking to Ivanova's wolf again. Groggily he rose and, half walking, half staggering, made his way over to the intercom.

"Yes?" His voice sounded like a gravel pit.

"Mr President," came a voice he didn't recognise. "You asked to be woken just before we jumped back into Babylon-5 space. We're ten minutes away from the jump point."

"Good." Sheridan hastily answered, "Thank you."

"One thing sir, we've been receiving information about an unusually high level of traffic flowing through grid epsilon. We might be stuck in a jam."

"I understand." Sheridan grimaced; he'd hate to be in Lockleys's shoes directing all that traffic. "Anything else?"

"No Sir. Good day." The voice signed off.

Sheridan turned to head to the shower, he didn't expect to be able to wash away the anxiety or the fatigue he was feeling but you never knew.

"My God." Sheridan muttered, "Did someone start a war and not tell me?"

His ships had just jumped into what must have been the biggest fleet he'd seen since the Shadow war. Narn, Centauri, Drazi, Packmara, in fact every race of the Alliance, including the humans, had a large contingent of vessels here.

"Attention Minbari Fleet," A very tired sounding Lt Commander Corwin was heard over the comlink. "As you can see we're very busy at the moment, any docking requests will be severely delayed."

Sheridan made a signal to the communication officer.

"Attention Babylon-5, This is President Sheridan." He paused to let the announcement stake hold, "Lt Cmdr Corwin. You seem to be having a busy day."

"You don't know the half of it sir," The younger man said. "I'm pretty glad your here, maybe you can help sort out this mess."

"Oh?"

"The Centari Emperor decided to make a surprise visit to ambassador Vir yesterday, however he brought half of the Centari fleet with him for security. Then the Narn and the Drazi turned up with fleets of equal size just to 'keep an eye on them'. Earth then sends the 1st and 9th fleets out here to provide security for B5 and then the rest of the Alliance decides to join us."

"Corwin, get off that line and start directing traffic." Lockley's voice was heard in the background.

"Lt Commander?" said Sheridan, "If you can get me a high priority docking request, I'm sure I should be able to help."

"Aye Aye Sir. One purple docking request issued."

Sheridan smiled to himself, what was the point of being president if he couldn't jump the queue from time to time.

* * *

"My dear Mr President!" The voice boomed out from behind him.

Sheridan closed his eyes in exasperation; he'd put on his poker face and turned to face the voice's owner.

"Emperor Mollari, how are you?" He said as he turned to face longer.

Here in the diplomatic section of Babylon 5, it was not unusual for ambassadors or even heads of state to meet in the corridors. Half of the trade agreements seem to be worked out here, with a quiet word and a nod of understanding, instead of the more formal proceedings in the conference centres.

"As an old friend, I reach out with the arms of friendship!"

His entourage surrounded Lando, the guards, ministers, hangers on and flunkies. It looked like he dragged the entire Royal Court with him. Sheridan walked forward and grasped the emperor's arms and replied formal greeting.

After the greeting was over he looked at his hands. Lando looked at him quizzically.

"Mr President, what are you doing?"

"Just making sure they're all there." He replied with a slight smile.

There was a collective gasp from the hangers on. One of the guards would ready to break ranks and attacked him. Then a rasping chuckle from the emperor broke the tension. It turned into a roaring belly laugh.

"It's good to see that this job has not robbed you of your sense of humour!" He continued to laugh until a coughing fit stopped him. An aide rushed to his side but backed off after an angry glare from the Lando.

"It's only my cough!" Lando explained to Sheridan, weakly at first and then he recovered his strength. "I'll probably see you later, Mr President."

"Look forward to it." replied Sheridan, stepping aside to let the crowd pass.

However, he had the feeling that there was more to this than just a quick visit to Vir. He could feel it in the air; trouble was brewing.

* * *

"Captain Clay, you may sit!"

In a completely dark room, a single spotlight illuminated a chair in the centre. Clay marched forward and preformed a perfect right turn in front of the chair. He sat. This was his third time in the Star Chamber. He knew what to expect.

Although he couldn't see it, he knew the layout. The room was in the shape of a star and at each of the five points there would be either a high-ranking officer or a high powered telepath.

"The chair will be monitoring your life sign's Captain," said a disembodied voice. "Please relax."

"Yes, Relax before we pump you full of drugs and put your mind through a sieve." He thought.

"This won't be a erm…" the voice paused, looking for the right phrase, "a formal session. We just want to hear your report first hand."

Clay explained his encounter with the Minbari Fleet. He didn't deviate from the written report. He didn't have to. It was a pretty straight forward. He sat back and waited for the questions to begin.

"In your opinion, did you face a different enemy than we faced before?"

"No Sir. The ships we flew against were escorting the Minbari Capital vessels." Clay replied.

Even with his low P rating, Clay could feel the shock and fear when he made this statement.

"Were there any differences in the tactics used?"

"Yes sir. The escorting group appeared to be more tactically aware. However, they were using the standard Minbari formations we've been preparing for."

"Your evaluation?"

"I think they've been using they're weakest crews and vessels to soften us up. When the main fleet jumps in, they're better ships and tactics will be used to wrong foot us."

"What about the Minbari captured by Ark Royal?"

"I believe he's either a plant or an outcast."

"Captain Douglas appears to believe him."

"Captain Douglas believes a lot of things." came Clay's terse reply.

"I see, your suggestions?"

"I'd say that if we don't hear from Douglas in the next couple of days, then we mobilize the whole fleet and put it on war footing."

"A couple of days?"

"I'd prefer to do it now, but Douglas deserves the chance."

"I see, Thank you. Your opinions have been noted."

* * *

Lt Cdr Corwin stood at the communication terminal. It had been an interesting couple of weeks, almost as interesting as the old days. Lockley's had calmed down about the Ark Royal incident and now directing traffic, with the huge fleets in the area, was a challenging itself.

"Priority message to President Sheridan." Came a voice in his headset.

"Certainly, can I inquire who it is from?"

"It's from…"

There was an awful screech and Corwin had to rip the headset away from his ear. Half of the bridge crew had to do the same. He looked over the console. There was a huge waveform across all the boards, blocking any incoming signal. He started to work on ways to neutralise the signal and after a couple of minutes the local channels became free.

He then tried to clean up the interstellar channels but had no luck. Babylon 5 didn't have the power to clear those. It was then the realisation hit him. This was galaxy wide. Someone had the capability to jam all galaxy transmissions.

"Erm! Captain?" he called Lockley's link, nervously. "I think we have a serious issue."

* * *

The council chamber hadn't been used for almost two years. So after a quick dusting off, all the ambassadors were assembled and, with usual predictability, by the time Sheridan had arrived they were in a full slagging match. He'd just got off the comlink with Drall, The great machine on Epsilon Three wasn't able to cut through the jamming eitherHe sighed to himself and took his place next to Lockley, who represented earth on these occasions, and as there was no sign of the shouting subsiding, he banged the gavel until there was.

"We all know why we're here, " He announced. "As of this moment we know that all galaxy wide communication has been jammed. The only way to send messages is by courier. We don't know by who or their motivation but we intend to find out. "

There was a small cough from Lando.

"The chair recognises the Emperor of the Centari Republic."

"Forgive me, Mr President. But I was under the impression that you already know who is behind this act of terrorism. Is it not true that your task force had contact with a vessel which used a weapon similar to the jamming which we are facing?"

_"How the hell did he find out about that?"_ wondered Sheridan.

"The weapon was similar," he replied. "However, apart from the fact they used a jamming device, we don't have conclusive proof that the two incidents are linked."

"We don't have the luxury of waiting for conclusive proof," interrupted Lando. "I propose that a task force be sent to the last contact point to search for this jamming device."

There seemed to be general agreement from the rest of the Ambassadors.

"This is the equivalent of informational terrorism," Londo declared, "If the Alliance will not take action against this threat to us all, then the Centari will have to take the lead."

"No member of the alliance is going to be required to shoulder this burden alone. I will personally lead my task force back out to the sector and start searching for the jammer." He hoped this would be enough to placate them.

There was another small cough from Lando. _''Oh-ho!''_ thought Sheridan. _"What is he up to?"_

"That is appreciated Mr President," replied the Centari Emperor. "However, I do feel that if you discover the source of the jamming, then your task force will not have sufficient firepower to defeat it."

Lando paused for breath.

"I propose that every race here contributes to the task force."

The Drazi Ambassador stood up.

''And how are we supposed to contact home worlds for approval for this force?" He demanded.

"Do you really need to?" countered Lando. "Look at all our fleets surrounding Babylon 5. I'm willing to authorise every ship I have here to this task. Are you saying the Drazi are unable, or even unwilling, to match our contribution."

"That hit a nerve," thought Sheridan as he observed the Drazi Ambassador's reaction.

The Ambassador turned to his aide and there was a quick consultation. "The Drazi will supply our fleet here to this task."

"As will the Narn!" announced the Narn Ambassador.

One by one, the ambassador's promised more and more ships to the task force. Sheridan could not believe it. How long had it taken to get everybody on board for the shadow war? How difficult was it normally to get everybody to move in the right direction. It was astounding how everybody was willing to work together these days when they were all threatened.

"I suppose its progress of some sort," mused Sheridan to himself.

"I will have a work to the fleet captain's of the fleet. I don't think they're going to have a problem agreeing," said Lockley.

"Thank you all for your support," said Sheridan. "But be aware, that everyone in the fleet will have to follow my orders. I can't have any outside interference with this operation."

This is the point where he expected to support to fall away.

"Done!" agreed Lando, although we weren't part of the Alliance at the time of the Shadow War, I believe we should re-instate the command structures that were in place back then. I place the entire Centari Fleet under the President's command."

Sheridan couldn't believe this from Lando, especially after the bitterness that existed after the fall of Centari Prime. Maybe the Centari were trying to get back into the good graces with the Alliance, Maybe Lando had another agenda that Sheridan couldn't see. However, it didn't take long. After an hour, all of the other races had agreed to the terms. After another hour, Lockley got word from the Fleet Captain's of both the earth fleets that they would follow Sheridan's orders without question. By the end of the day, President Sheridan had command of the largest fleet of ships since the Shadow War.

* * *

"I suppose that's us ready to go." Sheridan was observing the entire fleet from C-C on Babylon 5.

"Yes sir." agreed Lt Cmdr Corwin, "I know you said that you would try and help out with the traffic problem, but taking it away completely is quite an achievement."

Sheridan turned to look at the younger man, who he knew was deadpanning him.

"We aim to please," he replied with a smile.

Corwin looked troubled for a moment and then checked over his shoulder to see where the Captain was. As she wasn't anywhere in sight, he turned back to the President with a troubled look.

"Sir, about the incident with the Ark Royal..."

Ï'm sure you did your best but sometimes they get away," interrupted Sheridan.

"No Sir, that's not what I meant."

"Oh?"

"There was more going on than the official report," he whispered confidently. "Captain Ivanova was aboard Ark Royal and working with them."

Sheridan looked at him with shock.

"Susan?" he asked with incredulity.

More alarm bells went off in his mind. Susan would never betray the Alliance, yet she'd be on the receiving end of an extreme sanction order from Earth Force.

"Corwin, everything ready?" Captain Lockley appeared in C-C. Corwin looked as if he'd just sold his first born into slavery. Sheridan realised that Corwin had probably disobeyed a direct order in order to tell him that.

"The Lt Cmdr was just bringing me up to speed on the Fleet's status." Sheridan interrupted. "We'll be leaving within the next couple of hours."

He left C-C and headed to the Minbari Command Vessel constantly wishing that Corwin could have told him the whole story.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty Three

Ark Royal floated though hyperspace. She was still close to the huge engine test vessels as she escorted them to Minbar. Douglas viewed them despondently out of his cabin window. Ark Royal was lucky; She'd only lost three of her crew, two crewmen and Kelly, destroying a huge amount of enemy vessels in a single engagement.

The funerals had been performed, the good words said and the feeling of duty returned. He'd explained to the crew the situation and his reasons why they were heading to the home world of the enemy they'd prepared for, for so long. There was not one protest. He got the impression that the crew realised that there was someone else pulling the strings, and that they wanted revenge against the puppet master.

As he mused on these feelings, he thought of Kelly. He knew why she'd been important to him but he also knew why he'd kept the distance as well. It was so difficult for an old timer like him when faced with the younger generations of the commonwealth.

He hated this feeling, the loss of crew, which after a time had become family. Clanwellin was back at his post, still in shock over the loss of his crewmate but Douglas had no choice, otherwise it would just be Smith and himself pulling 12 hours shifts.

He looked over at the cramped cabin, which had been his home since the ship had been built. One small bunk, a locker, a fold away desk and some small pictures was all he had to show for the last twenty years.

He walked over to his locker and pulled out a small case. Opening the case revealed a dusty half full bottle of an amber liquid. Up until a few weeks ago, he thought he was in possession of the last bottle of Glen Morangie in the galaxy. He used to savour it sparingly. Only himself and Smith sampled it once in a while, for a calibration or to toast absent friends. He uncorked the bottle, he promised himself that if he ever got out of this situation alive that he'd visit the distillery in the highlands himself. There was a knock at the door.

"Enter." He called.

The door was opened to revel Captain Ivanova.

"Captain, come in," he said. "I apologise for the lack of space but, as you've seen with your quarters, space is a premium with these vessels."

"I must admit, that for once I'm happy that I'm not taller." Ivanova observed.

"Yes, personnel over six foot normally develop 'Dreadnaught Hunchback'," he explained with a smile. "These corvettes are great fighters but aren't known for their comfort."

He took two glasses out of the locker.

"Care to celebrate our success?" He gestured to the bottle.

She smiled and nodded. The desk was unfolded and the drinks poured.

"So what's the plan now?" Douglas asked.

"Well, We get to Minbar. Delenn sorts out the rangers to avoid those capture ships, we put together a taskforce to stop the attacks on your system and then we get earth to stop the termination order on me or anybody from the commonwealth. I hoped we could share some intelligence to help each other out."

"Well, there is one sticking point before we start."

"Lennier." Ivanova sighed. "I have no idea what he's going to do."

"Well, I've offered him sanctuary as long as he's within commonwealth territory. I don't think it would be wise to mention that he's with us."

"That's a no brainer." Ivanova replied with a smile.

Douglas poured the drinks and raised his glass to Ivanova.

"The Warlock!" he said.

"Lt Kelly and the Ark Royal fallen." replied Ivanova.

They downed the drinks in one. Ivanova was expecting the rough shot of bourbon whiskey that Sheridan was fond of. However, this stuff was a lot smoother and a warm glow settled in her stomach.

"That's not what I expected." said Ivanova.

"That's why we call it the 'good stuff'. Normally you go onto the gut-rot after the third because the tast buds can't tell the difference at that point." Douglas was refilling the glasses.

"What's earth like these days?" He asked.

"Different from before you left. The Minbari war, the Shadow war, the Earth Civil war. They've all taken they're toll. You get a feeling that earth isn't the power it was but in some ways that's better. "

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Earth needs to work more with it's Allies than try to always do things it's own way."

Ivanova took another shot.

"Apart from that, it's still the same green and blue little world you left behind, sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same."

"I guess. I'd like to go back. It's just having to dodge the Corp. and having to deal with the questions from any family I'd have left."

"Anybody else?" Invanova asked.

"Heck no. Never had the time or could find anybody who could handle the navy life." He explained, "yourself?"

"There's no-one left now. My brother died in the war and my father died about ten years ago. It feels like I've been by myself for so long now."

"The loneliness of command." Douglas grunted.

"I know about that." she grimaced.

"Marcus Cole?"

She grimaced. "Lennier told you?"

"Actually, I knew him from the Earth-Minbari war. We worked in intelligence before I shipped out on cruisers."

"What was he like back then?"

"A foppish idiot," he said with a smile. "But he was good foppish idiot. He just didn't know when to shut up."

"He didn't change, " Ivanova also smiled. "He was just too... erm... well..."

"Marcus." Douglas finished. "We all thought that he batted for the other team."

Ivanova laughed, "I can see why."

"He was always complaining that there was never any interest from women," Her eyes then widened and then she laughed harder. "Oh goodness, he would have been gutted if he'd ever found out."

"Were you and Kelly close?" Ivanova asked.

Douglas smiled sadly, "Not as close as I would have liked. You know, fraternising with the crew etc."

"There's more to it than that isn't there."

Douglas sighed, "There always is."

"You have me curious now," said Ivanova, drinking another shot.

"It was age. You want to know how old Kelly was in Earth Standard time?"

"Twenty, Twenty two?"

"Six standard years old."

"WHAT! "

"There are millions of us now. There were only fifty thousand of us to begin with."

"Wow! It's a wonder you can stand!" said Ivanova, "What ever happened to no sex please, we're British?"

"It's about the same really." Douglas said. "Everybody deposits they're genetic material and it's used at a facility."

"Your all Clones?"

"No. It's artificial insemination. Embryos are created using our erm... deposits. Two years later and out walks a new citizen of the commonwealth who's technically 18."

"How's that possible?" Ivanova.

"The Quad system consists of three stars and many planets. We found that at the LaGrange point of all the planetary bodies and the stars, there was some strange effect of the space time continuum."

"Oh?"

"You know how relativity works. The closer to the speed of light you get, the slower you age?"

Ivanova nodded.

"Well imagine that reversed, the slower that you travel in relation to the speed that earth travels at, the faster you age. Don't ask me to explain why this occurs at this lagrange point because I don't understand the physics myself. Nut the upshot is that time runs a lot quicker there."

"People are born there, grow normally, receive they're education, telepath training and leave, never to return, on they're eighteenth birthday. For them eighteen years have passed, everywhere else it's only been two."

"Oh Lord!" Ivanova was horrified.

"We have no concept of family, any natural conceptions are extracted and then passed to the facility. We thought we were the last humans in the galaxy. All ethics went out of the window just to keep the human race going."

Douglas knocked back another drink and refilled it.

"For the original fifty thousand, it's always been difficult to form any kind of intimate relationship with any of the others. You don't know if you're even related."

"Did Kelly remind you of anybody?" Ivanova asked, not sure how to broach this delicate subject.

"No, " sighed Douglas. "But I was hiding behind duty."

"What was the kind of thing she did?"

"She was a rebel!" He smiled.

"What she'd do?" asked Ivanova joining Douglas with a drink.

"There was this one time she got into a fight on New England. She said she got jumped and was just defending herself. The tribunal found her guilty and fined her 200 Credits. She gave them 400 Credits, turned round and punched the guy that attacked her."

Ivanova laughed, " I would have loved to taken her to Airharts, the bar on Babylon-5."

"They'd be clearing up the ears and eyeballs when she'd finished."

"Marcus did that once. Delenn had gone missing and he took apart a bar trying to find information."

Ivanova smiled, realising that the alcohol was hitting her system. She found that, for once, she didn't care. Douglas himself looked abit unsteady as discarded the empty bottle and got another bottle from the locker.

* * *

Ivanova woke with the taste of sandpaper in her mouth. The surroundings were vague and fuzzy. She suddenly snapped awake when she realised where she was. She was still in Douglas' quarters.

"Oh-oh," she thought as she looked around. She was in the bunk. She spotted a two completely empty bottles on the desk. Looking down on the floor, she saw her clothes lying in an undignified heap on the floor. With a slow rising feeling of dread, she glanced under the sheets.

"Oh God! This gets worse!" she thought as she bit her lip, "Naked!"

As the fogginess in her mind cleared, she realised that she was not alone, turning she looked over at Douglas. He was sleeping quite peaceably. How she hadn't noticed before was beyond her.

"Oh Hell," she muttered.

"Oh Thanks," came Douglas's voice as he slowly woke up. "Good morning to you too."

"Sorry, It wasn't meant like that."

"Oh?"

"This isn't what I meant about joint intelligence," she said.

Douglas smiled. "That's ok. If you want, then it never happened."

Ivanova looked pained, "It happened?"

"That's a problem?"

"You mean getting drunk as a skunk and the jumping into bed with the first man that comes near me?"

The embarrassment seemed almost overwhelming.

"Well, if it's any consolation, "Douglas replied, "I can't remember much."

There was something in his voice that Ivanova caught.

"You're lying," she said.

"Remind me never to play poker against you. C'mon, is it really that bad?"

"Well, it's not just that," Ivanova admitted. "It's typical that its the first time in ages and I can't remember what happened."

"Ah," said Douglas, trying not to laugh.

"It's not funny!" Ivanova gave Douglas an evil stare. Douglas was desperately trying not to laugh. She couldn't help it, she picked up the pillow she was lying on and whacked him in the face.

"Ouch!" came a muffled mock yell, "So much for a serious discussion."

"I'm Russian, we're always..."

"Serious," Douglas finished

"Mind you I could just enter your mind and wipe the memory because you'll remember in your drunken antics soon enough." he continued.

"Nobody gets into my head and lives." She growled.

"Look, I'm sorry that we ended up in this situation but I'm even sorrier that this is the way you feel about things the next morning. Personally, it's not something I'm going to forget about in a while."

"You've got some nerve coming out with a line like that." Ivanova sounded determined to be remote.

"Can't help it." he sighed with regret, "Two days ago, I buried someone who I shouldn't have turned away. It kind of makes you look at things in a different light."

It was Ivanova's turn to look regretful, "After all that's happened to me I should at least feel grateful for the attention."

"Look, I'll offer you a deal, we get up and pretend all this never happened..." Douglas offered.

"With it so far..."

"But after all this is over, we meet up somewhere and see what happens."

Ivanova mulled this over for a few seconds.

"Ok. It's a date, ermm, deal!" She hurriedly corrected herself.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty Four

The rescue fleet jumped into Minbar and almost immediately Delenn knew something was wrong. She'd ordered the fleet to go to complete radio silence until she'd contacted Minbar but hadn't been able to raise the headquarters since they jumped. Mr Garibaldi had been working with the crew to try and get communications working but to no avail. Now that they were in system, everything became clear when a message arrived on one of the communication system.

"Attention all shipping!" it announced in interlac. "The present communication crisis continues, we have been able to clear all channels on a system wide basis but interstellar transmitions are still being jammed either by natural phenomenon or unknown parties. We are working with all members of the Alliance to resolve the situation. Your understanding is appreciated."

"Call Mr Garibaldi to the Bridge and then get me a link to Alliance Headquarters." she ordered the technician at the communication station.

A familiar Minbari face greeted her as the communication link was established. It was the head of Ranger Training.

"Entilza," he greeted. "We're glad to see you back."

"Yes, I can see we have a new crisis on our hands, is John there?"

"No, he was last reported on Babylon-5. Hopefully he's working to resolve this present situation."

"Very well, prepare to receive us, we have several thousand white star crews on board, some need immediate medical attention, then get me the captain of every available white star that's in system."

"Entilza, we're detecting a ship with you that we have standing orders against. The President was involved in an incident with a craft of similar design, not long before the communication blackout."

"What are those orders?"

"Get the vessel to surrender or disable the vessel. The crew will be held for questioning."

Delenn grimaced; she didn't want to do this but it obvious that John didn't have all the facts at his disposal.

"Those orders are countermanded regarding the vessel that's with us."

"Entilza?" The Minbari looked shocked.

"This vessel is responsible for the fact we have thousands of survivors and not names to add to a memorial. She will be treated with the respect she deserves."

The Minbari nodded with respect, "Yes Entilza."

"What the heck have we missed?" asked Garibaldi, who just caught the end of the conversation.

"Too much, it appears." replied Delenn. "I hope we're not going to be too late to resolve this."

* * *

Lennier was looking out via one of Ark Royal's few viewports at his home planet. It was torture, he so wanted to jump ship and go home. However, he knew that the moment he stepped of this ship he would be seized and that was the last thing he wanted.

"Homesick?" asked Ivanova appearing behind him.

Lennier turned to look at her. He couldn't put his finger on it but there something different about the Earth Force Captain. He shrugged the impression away.

"I've always regretted what I did," he said, looking back out of the viewport. "Funny that going on the run seems more of a punishment than what would have happened to me, if I had stayed."

"Douglas has offered you Sanctuary?"

"Yes, and I'm grateful, It will be nice not to be checking over my shoulder all the time."

"Was there a bounty put on your head?"

"No, but my actions brought dishonour against the rangers. They're very good at tracking down a rogue."

"I'm sorry Lennier," admitted Ivanova, "After all you've done for the Alliance, you'd think you'd get better treatment."

"You ever talked to Lyta Alexander since you left?"

"Erm, No?" Ivanova was thrown by the sudden change of topic.

"She feels the same as me, both of us gave our all for Sheridan and the Alliance and look where it got us. Admittedly, my predicament is my own making but we both feel bitter."

"When did you meet up with Lyta?"

"She and G'Kar got me out of a sticky situation in Drazi space." He smiled sadly, "It was nice to see them but they move around a lot."

"Excuse me? I'm not interrupting?" Captain Douglas appeared from round a corner.

"Just some reminiscing," replied Ivanova.

"Well, I have to ask a favour of the pair of you."

Ivanova and Lennier looked at each other and back at Douglas.

"I'm two officers short," he said. "I'm asking if I can draft you two for my crew."

"What doing?" asked Ivanova.

"Well, I'm short of an Engineering officer, so I was hoping Lennier would fill in. Clanwellin isn't really up to his job at the moment, so if you would be willing to stand in and show him how to shoot."

"I don't think that will be a problem," replied Ivanova, after getting a nod from Lennier. "However, this is only until this situation is over. I want to get a new ship after this."

"That's good. The stations are similar enough to the old earth force layout, so I don't think you'll have any problems."

"Captain to the Bridge," called a nervous Clanwellin.

"Uh-ho!" said Ivanova.

"Yes, when he sounds that jumpy, you know there's going to be trouble."

* * *

Everyone was sat round the main conference hall in Alliance headquarters. Douglas admitted to feeling cold in the crystal structure. He looked around the table. There was Mr Garibaldi, who looked more bored than anybody here. Ivanova looked comfortable but it was Delenn who caught his attention.

It was obvious that she was Minbari but he found it shocking that she looked and acted so human. He did find it difficult to be here, he looked over at his first officer. Smith looked alright but he could feel the control that he was using to keep his anger repressed. Douglas wondered if he should have left him on the ship where he wouldn't be under that much stress.

He could understand the stress; they'd just been escorted under the guns of six white-stars and a couple of cruisers. He was quite relieved that it had been Ivanova at the gunnery station and not a nervous Clanwellin. They'd been escorted, under guard, until they'd reach this hall and if it wasn't for the way that Ivanova greeted her old comrades, he'd almost have considered himself a prisoner.

It had been quite emotional; he could feel the turmoil in her as she came across people she hadn't seen in almost five years. She shouldn't have worried. Delenn embraced her old friend like they'd never seen each other for decades. There was a release of the tension, as all the guards and escorts seemed to relax.

There were twenty Minbari, the commonwealth officers, Ivanova, Garibaldi and Delenn sat around the table a large circular table in the centre of this grand hall.

"I'd like to start this briefing by review the situation." said Delenn. "We have an unknown enemy who, in my opinion, appears to be manipulating a conflict between the Alliance and the Commonwealth."

"They have the capability to disable, capture and corrupt our white-stars. These captured ships have been used to attack the Commonwealth home system. In addition, either this third party or the Commonwealth, in response to hostile action, has instigated a galaxy wide jam of interstellar communications."

Both Douglas and Smith looked at each other uncomfortably when the last statement was made.

Another Minbari spoke, "We received this report from President Sheridan when he made contact with a Commonwealth vessel."

A holographic recording made by John was displayed in the centre of the table.

"It's with regret, I make this report. We successfully intercepted a Commonwealth vessel at the included spatial co-ordinates."

The view changed to show Sheridan's fleet surround a dreadnought class corvette.

"I ordered a couple of White stars to Sheppard her while issuing a challenge to the vessel." Sheridan continued the commentary as two white stars intercepted corvette and stayed in it's 'six' regardless of the extensive manoeuvres it was performing.

"At this point, the vessel dropped some kind of device which jammed all local communication." A small piece of the corvette's wing was seen to drop away. "I tried to set up a manual relay of orders but by the time it was in place, the vessel dropped a mine which appeared to disable both the white stars in range and the jammer."

A blue flash was seen emerging between the pursuing White stars and the two vessels went dead in space.

"It was at this point I swore using the phrase 'Oh Hell', which means 'fire all weapons' in Minbari. I hadn't realised that the communication system was working again."

The entire fleet opened fire as one on the single commonwealth vessel, which disappeared in a green flash of light. Both Douglas and Smith looked at each other urgently. Delenn, Ivanova and Garibaldi looked shocked, while the rest of the table shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

"Can we immediately apologise for the loss of your vessel?" Delenn looked crestfallen.

"Can we look at our ship's nameplate?" Surprisingly, it was Smith who asked.

Silently Delenn, looked at one of the aides and they rewound the recording. The nameplate revealed the legend 'Dreadnaught'. Douglas and Smith looked at each other for a second and then Smith nodded.

"And did you also get a recording of the wave form of the interstellar jammer?"

A couple of second's later, a 3d representation of the waveform appeared.

Both Douglas and Smith looked relieved.

"That's not the waveform we use for the jammer," Smith confirmed.

"Thankfully," continued Douglas, "We don't have to accept your apology because the ship in question wasn't destroyed. The green flash is what one of our propulsion drives looks like viewed from outside."

"That's a relief." said Ivanova.

"Not really, "said Douglas, "Things might have been easier if the ship had been destroyed."

Everybody was taken a back by his statement.

"The captain of that ship will have reported that he was fired upon by a Minbari Fleet and that would have put the whole Commonwealth on a War Footing."

"For just one ship?" asked Garibaldi.

"We've been waiting for a Minbari attempt to wipe us out for twenty years. Remember how the war was fought? No prisoners and no mercy."

Douglas noticed Delenn looked extremely uncomfortable at this point. He had to shift his focus away from her because the stab of guilt seems almost painful.

"I think that's exactly what our real adversary wants," she said. "If it was ever reviled that the commonwealth was an innocent party in a war, then the alliance would suffer greatly."

"We don't want a war." said Smith. "We've been dreading the return of the Minbari."

"However, I can't call home to report our discoveries because of the jamming," stated Douglas. "I'm sure the evidence we've gathered would countermand any mobilisation."

"I do think that the Jammer has to be our highest priority," observed Ivanova "And I have a hunch to where it is."

"The only problem is that we have no scout ships which will be secure against they're capturing technology." admitted Delenn.

Douglas sighed, he knew what was required. "Well, if Captain Ivanova is willing to come along, we'll recon the area. If we find anything then we'll take it out."

"Very well, Susan?" Delenn turned to look at her old friend.

"Don't see a problem with that. I haven't got much in my schedule at the moment. But I would recommend that a couple of cruisers stand by in Hyperspace so we've got some kind of backup."

"I'm afraid that I'll have to bow out at this stage," said Garibaldi. "However, there might be something in the R&D division back home which might be of help."

"Very well," said Delenn, "I'll take the fastest ship to Babylon-5 and brief John on the situation."

The whole meeting took less than half an hour.

* * *

Ivanova was leaving the hall with the commonwealth personnel when Garibaldi approached them.

"Quick word?" he asked Ivanova

Douglas nodded. He and Smith moved off in the distance to give them some privacy.

"Wish my business meetings were that fast," Garibaldi said, offering her a little black box. "Here, I want you to take this."

"Is it a portable acme sledgehammer as approved by Wil E. Coyote?"

Garibaldi gave her a sarcastic smile.

"It's a new kind of communicator; I'm hoping to call you through it when the eggheads get the signal carrier sorted out. It doesn't seem to be affected by the jamming."

"How does it work?"

"Oh, it uses carrier waves amplified by the yakked smacked phenomenon that uses what-do-you-call it to get the thingamajig."

Ivanova couldn't help but smile, "You were always one for technical explanations."

"Hey you know me, all I want is to push a button and it works. " Garibaldi smiled back.

"Got another one for Delenn?"

"Funny you should mention that."

"Well, listen, there's a favour to ask."

"You mean apart from lending you this communicator, my prototype ships, making me take time away from the office and robbing my wife of my charming personality?"

"You know who, was never sent to get you." Ivanova whispered.

"Who? I just decided to take my test ships out for a quick jaunt." He sighed looking over at Delenn. "They'll never sort it out you know."

"I know." Ivanova sounded just as regretful. She looked over at Douglas and Smith.

"Time to go."


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty Five

"Steady as she goes, Mr Nyta," The Centari Admiral talked to the Captain, "We don't want Sheridan to think we can run a simple recon mission."

"Yes Sir," Agreed the Captain, "Wouldn't want the Narn to outperform us."

The Admiral had volunteered to recon in force for Sheridan. Even after the fall of Centari Prime, he was still thought of the ideals behind the Alliance were good. He was quite relieved that the Republic and the Alliance were on the same side for once.

"Admiral, I've got a time delay message from the Emperor." The communication officer reported.

"Oh?"

"It's coded for your eyes only."

"Very well, I'll take the briefing room."

"Sir, there's a package with it as well."

The Captain smiled at his superior officer, "Looks like somebody's been given a new medal."

The Admiral smiled at the captain and retreated to the briefing room. Two minutes later, the communication officer arrived with a small package. He placed it on the table with a small data crystal. The officer then stood back, saluted and left.

The Admiral stood up, picked up the data crystal and placed it in the reader. Lando Mollari, the Centari emperor, appeared smiling on the local monitor.

"Admiral, The service you and the fleet are performing on behalf of the Centari Republic, is appreciated beyond measure and just as critical as any you been on before."

There was a flicker on the older Centari's face. The Admiral couldn't make his mind up if it was regret or something else.

"I'm sorry that I'm not there to give you this gift in person. I hope you find it as useful as I do."

With that, the screen went blank. With a puzzled look on his face, the Admiral leaned forward and opened the package.

* * *

The Captain noted that the Admiral had been in the briefing room for almost an hour before the officer emerged. He seemed a little disoriented but he walked over to the communication officer. He then picked up a communicator.

"Attention all hands," The Admiral announced. "I have just received a message to pass onto you from the Emperor. He is impressed with our performance and will have us assigned for special shore leave when we've completed our current tour. Until then I expect ever one of you to perform to the best of your abilities. That is all."

The Admiral walked back over to the Captain.

"I've just received some worrying intelligence. Raise our alert level and notify our escorts."

"Yes Sir."

The Captain knew better to ask but he also knew this was in direct contravention to Sheridan's orders.

* * *

Jefferson Clay was a frustrated man. Dreadnaught was leading a flight of four corvettes on small recon patrol. The frustration was with the communication system. Standard communications was down for interstellar communication. They had to resort to using the new emergency FTL transmitters, which had just fitted to the fleet.

Short messages of 200 characters could be sent but that was it could manage before the signal was disrupted. Patrols had been started in the closest system to find the source of the Jamming. Intelligence was guessing that it had to be close to the Quad system, the power requirements for such a powerful jammer must be huge.

"Sir," the gunner turned to him. "I'm picking up a number of ships, bearing 085, 000."

"Hmm," Clay pondered this for a moment, "Order the flight to go stealth, we're going to take a look."

Dreadnaught and her sister ships dropped out of LDS, They slowed to crawl and approached the contacts. At the slow stealth speed, the vessels took an age but eventually the gunner spoke.

"Sir, I'm getting five contacts. The first four are the white stars, the last one is big."

"Minbari?"

"I don't think so," replied the gunner, "The engines sound wrong"

"Sir?"

"Yes Engineer?"

"I think its Centari and it must be big."

"Centari eh? Keep the weapons powered down for the moment."

"Aye Aye Sir."

The flight approached the larger ship slowly.

* * *

"Admiral, I think we have company." said the sensor's officer, "Four very faint contacts coming in off port bow."

"Run to battle stations," he ordered.

"Sir!" The Captain sounded, "That's against our orders from Sheridan."

"I have received new instructions, Captain."

"Very well," replied the Captain, who looked very unhappy about it. However he relayed the order.

"All hands to battle stations."

"It's Centari alright," confirmed the Engineer.

"Maybe it is part of this interstellar alliance," said Clay. "If it is, then we might not have to go though all this after all."

"Sir, I'm not sure if we've been made," said the Navigator.

"Very well, put me though to the Centari Cruiser."

"Aye Aye Sir."

* * *

"Sir we are receiving a transmition." announced the communication's officer.

"Put it on speaker," ordered the Admiral.

A human voice came though the speaker.

"This is Fleet Captain Jefferson Clay of the Commonwealth Navy to Centari vessel. Vessels of the same type that are escorting you have been making attacks against our home systems. We ask what you're intentions are?"

The Admiral turned to his sensors officer.

"Do we have a fix on their position?" he asked.

"I've locked it down to a small area."

"Pass those details to gunnery."

"Gunnery, load charges and target the area passed to from sensors."

The Captain looked at the Admiral and realised that he didn't look ok. He was sweating and he was really issuing the orders through clenched teeth. He quickly walked over to him.

"Charges loaded." reported gunnery.

"Sir? Are you ok?" asked the Captain.

"Fire Charges!" ordered the Admiral.

"No Sir!" yelled the Captain.

Before the Captain could react, the Admiral had drawn a knife from his glove and plunged in into the captain's throat. As he collapsed on the floor, the last thing he heard before loosing consciousness was.

"Fire All Charges."

"Sir!"

* * *

"Sir, they've launched something," reported gunnery.

A small silver projectile shot from the cruiser and headed straight for them. It split into several parts.

"Gravitatic charges." breathed the navigator.

Clay ignored him and called ship to ship. "Prepare for emergency shielding. We'll run to full thrust after that."

The engineer quickly ran his hands over his workstations, configuring settings. "Ready Sir!"

Clay put hovered his hand over the shield control. He started to count down from five. Emergency shielding would only be used in dire circumstances. It put the LDA's into shear mode.

"4"

For five seconds, they would generate a force field around the whole of the ship.

"3"

The only problem was it overloaded the shield arrays, making them completely useless.

"2"

The projectiles split again. Clay knew there was an explosive charge at the end of each of those silver lines heading towards them.

"1"

The projectiles split again. He could see the gunner clench his teeth summoning the courage needed.

"Activating Shield." reported Clay.

The projectiles came close to the fight of corvettes and then exploded. The crew in the bridge were thrown about as Dreadnaught pitched and yawed in the explosion.

"Full power to engines, Helm, full evasive."

Dreadnaught skipped forward, powering her way through the secondary explosions.

"We've lost the Coventry, " reported the gunner, "The Glasgow is still with us but the Intrepid has had to launch life boats. I'm reading two pasties and a command section."

"Oh Lord, Power surge on the cruiser." reported the engineer.

Flashes of light flew from the cruiser as she opened fire on the defenceless vessels. All three disappeared in little flashes of light.

Clay was cursing himself for not loading any of the big hitting REM missiles but he did have one ace up his sleeve.

"FTL the Sheffield for assistance."

"Aye Aye, Sir." replied the engineer.

"The White stars are abandoning their escort, "reported the gunner. "They've opened a jump point."

All four white stars jumped away, leaving the cruiser to face the corvettes. This struck Clay as a very odd way to behave; surely the commander would have ordered them to destroy the corvettes. Maybe the Captain of the cruiser wanted all the kills to himself.

Clay ordered more defensive manoeuvres. He knew that only the fact that all power being fed into the engines was keeping his ship alive as deadly streams of light flashed close to her.

There was a green flash as the Sheffield left LDS. She was massive, 1200 metre's long, eight LDAs, more gun ports than Clay had ever seen on any commonwealth vessel. However, more importantly, she carried a whole squadron of T-fighters.

The front of the Danube class Cruiser looked like a vulture's head and halfway down the vessels fuselage, wings arched out, which at their tip held the fighter launch bays and the plasma cutting rays the commonwealth had reverse engineered from the black ships of five years ago.

The Sheffield didn't waste any time, both of the plasma cutters fired. Two purple streams of light streaked into the Centari cruiser. The vessel shook, buckled and the exploded in a flash of light.

"Whoa!" breathed the gunner, "That was impressive!"

Clay had to agree, it was the first combat test of the new vessel and it had passed in a spectacular fashion. It was then he noticed another jump point form and then disappear.

"Was that a log buoy?" he wondered, as the wreckage floated past the view port. "What's more worrying, " pondered Clay. "Is the Centari against us as well?"

* * *

Sheridan was sat around the conference table with most of the Alliance's top generals. They had just reviewed the footage dropped by one of the White Star's logging buoy. They saw the Commonwealth cruiser destroy its Centari counterpart. The recording ended with the buoy jumping into space.

"Comments anyone?" said a grim faced Sheridan.

He looked round the table to observe the reactions of everybody sat there. There was a representative of the rangers, who had taken Delenn's place, a Narn general, a Drazi Admiral, Vir and fleet captain Torell from Earth Force.

"They have shadow technology," observed the Narn general. "They must have been allies during the war."

"If they were allies, " reasoned the Drazi. "Surely, they would have the organic armour as well?"

"Earth was able to reverse engineer that technology, so it should make sense that somebody else could." said Torell.

"It's obvious that the Centari fired first. It was unprovoked and against orders." said the Narn.

"We don't know what was going through the Admiral's mind at the time," retorted the Earth Force officer.

"Vir?" asked Sheridan.

"To be honest, I'm at a loss to explain it." Vir looked quite shaken by what had happened. " The Admiral in question was quite a supporter of the Alliance, one of the few I might add, and I find it difficult to believe that he'd disobey your orders."

"I must admit though, that new ship is impressive." The earth officer continued, "I hope we don't have to engage too many."

"It's my intention not to engage them at all. We need to find the motivation behind this before taking any aggressive action." announced Sheridan.

He did have a gut feeling though; he felt he was being manipulated. Circumstances always seemed to be against them, this was another first contact, which had gone wrong with the Commonwealth. How they were going to recover from this he had no idea.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Attention White Star 13, you have final clearance to dock." Babylon-5's traffic control announced.

"Thank you, Traffic Control. Beginning final approach," announced the Captain. "Take her in. I'm just going to check on our VIP."

After a quick stroll through the ship, he arrived and knocked on the door.

"Entilza, we're all most there."

Delenn smiled at the Captain. "Thank you, Captain"

She looked out over at the huge space station. It was strange really, this feeling of nostalgia. It had been her home for more than seven years and even now she could see that it wasn't in the same state of repair when she lived there. She sighed to herself; it was inevitable that the Alliance was taking more of the diplomatic burden away from the station. The irony was the birthplace of the Alliance was getting more redundant as the Alliance did better.

She watched the station carefully, as the White Star on final approach, headed for the docking bay. She had to put these feelings aside; there was work to do.

* * *

"Delenn, am I glad to see you." Captain Lockley greeted at the arrival's lounge.

"Likewise Captain." Delenn smiled, "But I don't think you're going to like what I'm going to say."

The two women walked together to the green sector swapping small talk until they arrived one of the Green Sector's conference rooms. As they sat at the table, a couple of rangers scanned the room for bugs and Zack Allen came running into the conference room.

"Delenn!" Allen greeted her and then joined them at the conference table. Delenn waited a moment so Zac could settle and then began to speak.

"I'm afraid that this whole business with the Commonwealth has been a created by an unknown party..."

It took her about an hour to bring the two Command Officers up to speed with the situation. The look of relief on the faces of both officers spoke volumes.

"So that means Ivanova should have the extreme sanction order lifted." said Zac.

Lockley looked at table and then up at Delenn. "Hopefully, but if we can't someone will have to hide her."

Delenn nodded, "That's not going to be a problem."

"However, John has decided to go looking for the Jammer. He believes that the Commonwealth are using one."

It was Lockley's turn to bring Delenn up to date with the developments which have been happening at Babylon 5. It was Delenn's turn to look worried.

"According to the Ark Royal Crew, they're squawker, as they call it, doesn't work in the same way. They don't have something, which can jam the whole Galaxy. Add to the fact that the White Stars have been corrupted by Shadow Based technology this points to one of the races that the shadows used as allies. They certainly would want to hurt the Alliance. Any Idea where John has gone?"

"He's planned to go to the last contact system but that was days ago. We have no idea if he decided to stay there."

"I've got two favours to ask."

"Yes?"

"Firstly, I'm countermanding the orders for any available White Star and Minbari vessels to join John's Fleet. Could you do the same for the other races?"

"I don't think that wil be too hard," said Lockley. "Some of the Ambassadors fell that they were strong armed into this task force by the Centari."

"The second might be a little more difficult. Can you get me an Earth ship to take me into the contact area?"

"Not a White Star?"

"I think it might more be more appropriate, considering who the commonwealth are."

Lockley called up some details on the terminal in front of her and smiled.

"This should get John's attention. The Aggamonon is due in later today. I'm quite sure her Captain would be willing to take a quick side trip."

Delenn smiled, "That will do Captain."

* * *

Ark Royal flew through hyperspace at full speed. The bridge shook as the ship ran through the eddies and vortexes in hyperspace.

"Smooth ride!" commented Ivanova.

"The suspension is lacking, "Douglas shot back. "We're working on it."

Ivanova had no trouble acclimatising to the Ark Royal's gunnery station.

Although similar to the old Earth Force layout, it did have a more logical feel to it. She'd been through the practice drills and after a couple of runs were already beating Clanwellin's best scores. She Looked over at Lennier. He was having a little trouble dealing with the Engineering Station but then again Kelly was a hard act to follow.

"Captain," Ivanova turned to Douglas. "One thing I don't get, how come you managed to get technology far in than Earth's?"

"Remember about the time anomaly?"

"You've put your research facilities there as well?"

Douglas smiled. "Thousands of people living and working in the one big station, isolated in time and space."

"Sounds familiar," replied Lennier.

"Oh yes." agreed Ivanova, "There were times I had shore leave and returned to earth. It felt that years had gone by and not months."

"Well, if this business is resolved, then I can't see a use for it in the future." commented Smith

"How did you find this Quad System of yours?" asked Ivanova, "The chances of finding such a place were astronomical."

"Oh, I agree," confirmed Douglas. "That was all down to one man. Chief Petty Officer Grieves on the Ulysses."

Smith laughed, "Old Moses!"

Ivanova looked curiously at Smith.

"Well, Grieves was the aide to the Admiral in charge of the fleet. We had no idea where to go or where was safe when we'd left earth," explained Smith. "Grieves managed to convince the admiral that there was somewhere to go, somewhere we'd be safe."

"He originally said that he'd noticed an anomaly in one of the records from an Earth Force deep space probe," continued Douglas, "And as he was a bit of an export at astronomy, he recorded that there was at lease one habitual planet at the system he'd pointed out."

"The admiral consulted with the rest of the navigation staff and although there was a little difference of opinion, they agreed with Grieves' recommendation. Six months later and we found our new home with not one habitual planet but four. We couldn't believe our luck."

"But here's where it gets strange, every time there was a problem with the fleet during the journey or with the Quad system when we'd arrived, it had been Grieves who had put forward the correct solution. The one time we didn't listen to him and we lost New Ireland."

"He died about the time when the Shadows you told us about, paid us a visit and it was that time he confessed that he'd been getting the answers from a 'Higher' source."

"Higher source?" Ivanova looked over at Lennier, he looked as worried as she felt. There was a nasty feeling in her gut about what was about to be said.

"Yeah," laughed Smith. "He claimed that an Angel had guided him. Every time we got in trouble, this Angel would appear to Grieves and give him the answer. He hadn't mentioned it before because he was scared of being removed from duty."

"Shortly after that he claimed that the angel had said that he was leaving him and wished us luck for the future. Grieves died not long after. There was this whole religious cult built up behind this angel of his and to be honest you can't really argue against the evidence of his achievements."

Douglas finished and then looked puzzled at Lennier and Ivanova's expressions.

"What?" he asked.

"Erm, that sounds as if you had a Vorlon helping you." said Ivanova.

"What?" exclaimed Smith!

"If you ever saw a Vorlon," explained Ivanova, "they would look like an angel..."

"Or a being of light, " interrupted Lennier.

"Their interference with both Human and Minbari created telepaths in the first place and they disappeared at the same time when the shadows did."

"If it wasn't for them, then the earth and the whole human race would have been annihilated during the earth-minbari war." confirmed Lennier. "They convinced one of the Grey council to find a reason to spare the humans. "

Douglas and Smith looked at each other, the silence stretched into minutes. Ivanova thought they might be communicating telepathically to keep their conversation from them. It was Smith who broke the silence first.

"Why save us? Why take the interest?"

"Only the Vorlons could answer that, " replied Ivanova. "But my guess is that you were a backup."

"Backup?" asked Douglas.

"A hidden weapon, to be used against the shadows when you were ready. The Vorlon's needed a Nexus, a uniting point, where all the races would band together and fight the shadows. The human race is unique in the galaxy; apparently we were the only ones that could unite the races to fight back against the shadows."

"But Babylon-5 and Sheridan for filled that role and resolved the whole issue between the Shadows and Vorlons," observed Douglas

"So effectively, we're unused game pieces, left over from a galaxy wide game of cosmic chess?" Smith was astonished.

"If it makes you feel any better, there isn't any race we've discovered that hasn't been affected in some way or other." explained Ivanova.

"That's going to stir up a wasp nests when we get home," Douglas explained. "How do you explain to people who believe that they've been delivered by God to a promise land; that it's was a lie."

"Well, that debate is going to have to wait," announced Smith. "We've got about two minutes from the jump point."

* * *

Sheridan was worried, not a single contact for days. He paced around the command chamber of the Minbari Cruiser trying to organise his thoughts. For the first time in days, he allowed himself to think of Delenn. How he needed her guidance or just even her hand on his shoulder to calm him down.The situation was getting completely out of control. When he said at the council meeting that he was returning initial contact point, he'd intended with a much smaller force. Now he was here with the largest fleet since the shadow war and he was very much regretting going along with the Centari's suggestion.

It was just that the Centari had been so isolated for so long it would be helpful to have them on-side for once. Now after that first contact fiasco with the Centari Cruiser, he knew he couldn't rely on them.

The other issue was where the commonwealth got that level of technology. Integrated shadow tech, vessels that could stealth and then pop up almost at will. He remembered looking over the designs of the corvette he'd encountered but the more he thought about it, he couldn't recall where he'd seen them. It had been an annoying detail at the back of his mind since this incident had started.

That corvette had requirements which were just at the experimental stage in the Alliance Research facilities. What a different story it would have been if earth could have used them during the earth minbari war. He racked his mind trying to recall the meeting, there had been several chiefs of staff, maybe even the president herself present at that meeting, but what else was it about those damn ships.

He replayed the vague images over again in his mind; it was not long before the Battle of the Line. The situation was desperate. The Nova class cruiser prototype wasn't even ready and they'd just, regretfully, vetoed any further development on the corvette ship design. That was it, surely if he'd met the president, he'd remember. He also got the feeling that he was missing the real agenda of that meeting.

"Mr President!" an urgent call came from the bridge, interrupting his train of thought. "We have multiple contacts, the sensor's are going off the scale."

"I think we're going to see what the commonwealth can really throw at us." commented Sheridan. "Order the fleet to got to a level one alert."


	27. Chapter 27

"Welcome to the Warlock class's main test system," announced Ivanova. "Major highlights of this 'exciting' system are one star, two gas giants and an asteroid belt I've come to hate."

Ark Royal had just come though the wrecked jump gate because it was situated over a L Point. Ivanova could still see the wreckage of the Warlock itself floating close to it. She focused on the mission. There was a knock on the Bridge door.

"Permission to enter," said Clanwellin.

Douglas turned and looked at the younger man. He smiled.

"Granted Mr Clanwellin, " he said. "The doctor has cleared you fully fit for bridge duty, so sit next to Captain Ivanova and observe."

"Aye aye, sir." The younger man looked disappointed with this.

"Any help you can give the Captain with our systems would, of course, be appreciated."

The younger man smiled at this and sat next to Ivanova. However, his smile faded when he glanced over that the Engineering station. Lennier was working away quite diligently. Ivanova looked at him quizzically.

"Sorry Ma'am," He apologised. "I'm just used to seeing Kelly there."

"I know what you mean, "she replied, pointing to blips on the scanners. "That's all that is left of my command."

"Sir, " Smith called from the navigation station, "I think we've got a problem."

"Only one Mr Smith?" Douglas replied wryly.

"Indeed Sir, There is something wrong with the Star."

"Define wrong?"

"Well, it's giving off some kind of odd readings."

"Odd? That's hardly what you call scientific," replied Douglas.

"Well, we're getting some kind of solar pulse, it's disrupting all the gravitational fields and communications in the system."

"Oh? Gravitational?"

"Yes Sir."

"Let me guess, No L points."

There was an awkward pause.

"Yes sir."

Douglas sighed. Everybody on the bridge knew that it meant they were marooned in this system and thanks to the jamming; they had no way to call for help.

"Right, we can't worry about that now. Set course for the system's sun. We're going to see if there's anything we can do about that pulse," ordered Douglas.

"Course laid in sir!" replied Smith.

"Switch to Stealth Mode and engage LDS."

Ark Royal turned to face the star and shot forward, with a green flash.

* * *

Delenn stood on the bridge of the Agamemnon, not in command but as a VIP. Normally, she'd feel quite uncomfortable on an Earth Alliance cruiser. Her opinion of Earth Alliance technology had changed much in the last few years but you couldn't exactly call the design beautiful. She also knew that some Earth Force personnel still considered the Minbari and, by association, the ISA as a potential enemy. 

The Earth Civil war had a lot to answer for there. However, this ship was the exception. Before he was posted on Babylon-5, this had been John's ship. The amount of stories he had told her about his exploits on this vessel had almost bored her to death. However, the advantage was she probably knew this crew almost as well as John. The First Officer, MacDougan, had been promoted to Captain and the crew had mostly stayed the same.

As the Earth Alliance's most successful first contact ship, Earth force must have realised not to change a winning formula. The crew was also of the opinion that if Delenn was good enough for their old Captain, then she was good enough for them.

"We're approaching the designated jump gate," reported navigation.

"Take us straight in," ordered MacDougan, "All hands, go to level one alert."

The Omega Class Cruiser burst into real space but there was nothing there apart from a couple of white stars.

"Captain, could you put me in contact with those ships?" Delenn asked.

"Certainly," he nodded to the comms officer.

"Attention, White Stars. This is Delenn aboard the Agamemnon. Please identify yourselves?"

"White Star Four and Thirty Three. Entilza. The president asked us to relay new orders to any vessel that arrives here?"

"And where is the president at the moment?"

"Third system spin ward from here."

"Very well, I'm updating those orders. This investigation is over; any ships are to return to Babylon 5 for debriefing."

MacDougan walked over to the sensors officer who was attracting his attention. The officer pointed to the screen and then the captain turned round and put himself on ship wide call.

"This is the Captain, All hands to prepare for potential enemy contact!"

Delenn was startled. The Captain walked back over to Delenn.

"We've picked up four contacts approaching at very high speed. E.T.A. two minutes."

"If this is the Commonwealth, then it's probably better that the earth alliance, makes the contact." advised Delenn, "The White Stars might provoke them."

"That shouldn't be a problem, could you ask the White stars to form up behind us."

Delenn relayed the request and the two white stars formed up behind the larger cruiser.

There were four flashes of green and four Commonwealth Corvettes appeared close to the Agamemnon. They quickly turned and flew straight towards them.

The Captain turned to the comms officer.

"Open channels." He ordered. "Attention commonwealth vessels! This is Captain MacDougan on the Earth Alliance Cruiser Agamemnon. Please notify us of your intentions. We are at a level one Alert and any hostile action taken against us or our allies will be met with a robust response."

The four corvettes almost immediately broke off their run and split their formation. A corvette took up position behind the Agamemnon and the white starts while the remainder pulled in ahead and faced the front of the Cruiser. Delenn could make out the nameplate. It was the Dreadnaught.

"Captain MacDougan?" came a voice over com-link, "That's an ugly ship you've got there, Ed."

The Captain looked blackly at the ship through the view port. That voice was very familiar, from very long time ago.

"Jefferrson Clay?" the Captain sounded astonished, "Aren't you dead?"

"It feels like it sometimes," came the reply. "Can I ask when the last time I saw you was?"

"The holding action at Io. We were managing ok until the Minbari brought in the Big Cruisers. It was only the Yagamoto ramming the main cruiser that allowed us to get away. You bought me a drink at Mars and we both saluted the Admiral."

"That we did, how did you avoid the line?"

"Deep Patrol, scouting out possible escape routes."

"Yes, a bad time. Well Captain, I'm ordering my ships to stand down to level two. You prepared to do that yourself?"

There was a smile on the Captain's face. "Already as good as done. Can I invite you aboard our ship? We have people here who'd like to talk."

There was a pause. "I accept. Myself and my engineer will come over."

The ship in front of the view port moved out of sight as it began it's docking manoeuvre.

Delenn looked at the Captain, "You know this man?"

"Clay?" The MacDougan was grinning from ear to ear, "Old drinking buddies from the Earth Minbari war. I thought he died on the line."

Delenn was relieved, this was the first bit of good luck they've had with contact with the Commonwealth.

* * *

Ark Royal dropped out of LDS, at about 0.7AU from the star, about the equivalent orbit of Venus back home, and started to scan for anomalies. It didn't take long for the ships sensor's to register one. 

"Oh, my god!" Ivanova could not believe what the sensors were telling her.

"What?" Douglas looked over at the Earth Force Captain to see that her face had gone deathly pale.

"Look at the star." She whispered.

Everybody stared at the console in front of him or her. They could see a coronal mass ejection of the star reaching out to a small dot some way from the star itself. It looked as if the star was being drunk dry.

"I would say," observed Lennier dryly, "That is not a natural phenomenon."

"You can say that again," replied Ivanova.

Douglas called up a close scan. It was a massive structure, slightly bigger than Babylon 5 but black in appearance with the same spines and aggressive looking emplacements as the black ships from years ago.

"That's definitely shadow technology," said Ivanova.

"Oh!" There was startled cry from Lennier.

"I guess that's not good news," said Douglas.

"In a few minutes, we'll see something big happen," reported Lennier. "There's a big power surge coming from the Jammer. I think that we're going to loose in-system communication as well."

"Good job we've got nobody to talk to." replied Smith.

"Well, I've got to say," said Douglas. "We've got nothing onboard that could scratch that. Not even our REMs could help here, if we had any."

"So we're stuck in this system and can't jump out, we can't call for help and our target is so big we can't eliminate it," said Lennier.

"Yes, unless can anybody new ideas." replied Douglas.

There was an awkward silence.

"Well, there is one thing," offered Ivanova. "Shadow technology is vulnerable to anything based on Volorn tech."

"And?"

"Well, the Warlock had some built in. If we can locate the right part, then we can ram it into the Jammer."

"I see," replied Douglas.

The Star pulsed as the Jammer made more demands on the Star.

"I'm picking up something else as well. I think it's a transmission."

"Can we hear it?" asked Douglas.

"It's a video transmission," replied Lennier. "I'll feed it through to the other consoles."

On one side of the screen, a large fleet was visible on the left. They mostly consisted of Centari and Minbari vessels. On the right was a slightly smaller fleet but mostly consisting of corvettes like the Ark Royal, and three types of vessel, which was unfamiliar to Ivanova and Lennier.

"Oh Lord," whispered Smith. "They've launched the home fleet."

"Would you look at that!" exclaimed Clanwellin. "T-Fighters, Bastille Destroyers and Danube Cruisers!"

Douglas grimaced, "I've seen what those things can do. It's not going to be a walkover like the Battle of Line was."

"We've got to get that Jammer." Ivanova was a little panicked. She knew that Either Sheridan or Delenn would be with that fleet.

"Ok, we're going to have to do just that," said Douglas with determination. "Mr Smith Lay in a course back to the Jump Gate. Captain Ivanova, when we get there, identify the parts we need and Mr Lennier monitor that video feed. We're going Jousting."

* * *

"Oh! We're in trouble now." said Sheridan. 

"Mr President?" said Number One as she walked into the room.

Both Sheridan and his chief intelligence officer were in the command room on the Minbari Cruiser Enphilige.

"New Fighters, Mid Level Capital ships and those new cruisers. I don't think they're here to resolve things peaceable."

"Are we going to even try?"

Sheridan looked shocked by this, "Of course."

"Get me the nearest White Star." He called to the ship.

"Mr President! White Star Nine Reporting" The ship was highlighted on the display.

"Captain, I need you to get us reinforcements, Find the Narn and Earth Fleets and tell them to get over here flank speed."

"Yes Sir!" The White Star broke formation and flew off at high speed.

"Maybe if they see Earth Forces allied with us that will be enough to stop this." He said to Number One.

"Sir, estimated time till engagement is five minutes." came a disembodied voice in the chamber.

Sheridan signalled for external communication.

"This is ISA President John Sheridan to Commonwealth Fleet. We are here investigating the intergalactic communication problem and are not involved in any hostile action against you or you're Fleet. The Incident with the Centari vessel was unfortunate and an investigation has been launched."

He paused for breath.

"Please withdraw from the area, we will leave once our investigations are complete."

They waited a minute; there was no acknowledgment and no change to the Commonwealth fleet formation. Sheridan looked at the Intelligence Chief. She shook her head.

"That fleet is on war footing."

"I know, I've got to try and talk to them but order the fleet to level one Alert anyway."

Sheridan asked for external communication.

"Attention Commonwealth Fleet! I ask again to break off. We don't want a fight but this fleet will defend itself if fired upon."

Suddenly there was a flash from the ISA fleet as a couple of Centari destroyers launched gravity mines.

"Hold Fire!" yelled Sheridan. But it was too late.

The Commonwealth ships spread out and returned fire. To Sheridan it was as if someone has switched a cosmic light switch and the eternal night of space was lit up.


	28. Chapter 28

"Welcome aboard Captain." said Delenn, as Captain Clay walked into the Captain's briefing room

Clay looked at the woman in front of him with curiosity as he sat down at the conference table across from her. Captain MacDougan sat at the head of the table.

"You're Minbari?" Clay asked uncomfortably.

"Yes, " She smiled. "I'm John Sheridan's wife."

"I see, that means you must be Delenn."

"That's correct." She said. "I hope we can resolve this situation quickly."

"It's hard not to take it personally when I've been attacked twice by your forces, once by your husband and once by the Centari."

"The Centari?" Delenn was shocked by this, "I can understand the misunderstandings between the Minbari and the Commonwealth, thanks to Captain Douglas but the Centari…."

"You've seen Douglas?"

"Yes, Ark Royal was instrumental to help resolve the situation thus far."

"I see," Clay paused. "And where are they now."

"Captain Douglas and the Ark Royal crew are investigating the Galaxy wide communication interference. The assumption was that it was the Commonwealth causing the Jamming but Captain Ivanova had other ideas."

"Captain Ivanova?" Clay looked at the Earth Force Captain for an explanation.

"Captain of the latest cruiser prototype," explained MacDougan.

"We're starting in the middle of things," said Delenn. "I think we should start at the beginning with the attacks on your systems by these 'Black Stars'."

The true history of the events was relayed to Clay, who remained impassive as the explanation was given.

"Do you have any proof?" he asked sceptically after it was over.

"Captain Douglas said you'd need proof," Delenn said and handed over a data crystal. "He gave me this."

Clay looked over it.

"He said, only an officer of the Commonwealth would know how to access the information," said Delenn.

"Very Well," replied Clay, accepting the crystal. "Would you mind if you gave me time to review this on my ship?"

"Not a problem Captain," said MacDougan. "We'll re-convene when you're ready."

It only took Clay ten minutes, for him to review the footage and return. He appeared slightly more upbeat when he next walked into the Conference room.

"Having reviewed the footage and seen the evidence, I have to agree with Douglas' assessment that the events have been manipulated by a third party. I'm afraid that I can't transmit these findings back home because of the jamming but that will certainly, stop the hostilities between the ISA and ourselves."

"That's a relief." said Delenn, visibly relaxing.

"However, we need to get this information to the Commonwealth HQ and that's…"

The comlink on Clay's wrist bleeped, "This is Clay."

"Sir, We have just received this message from HQ. 'Attention all vessels, as of the 0800, the home fleet was attacked by a Minbari/ Centari Fleet at C2. The Commonwealth has taken this as an Act of War and will respond in kind. All Captains are required to do their duty."

"Oh Hell," swore Clay. "Send this response. 'This is Captain Clay of the Dreadnaught; I've recently received intelligence from Captain Douglas of the Ark Royal. This evidence should be enough to halt hostilities."

"Sir, I'm trying but it seems even the text can't get through!" replied the Officer.

"Can we raise the other Corvettes?"

"Barely, sir."

"Captain, we have to find my Husband. He's got the authority to stop the ISA Fleets."

Clay considered this.

"Ed? Can you take piggy back my ship to the ISA Fleet."

"That shouldn't be a problem." replied the Earth Force Captain.

"Attention Corvette Flight," Clay called into his communicator. "We are transmitting a file to you. This is to be taken to Commonwealth HQ without delay. Dreadnaught will stay with the Earth Alliance vessels to help resolve this situation."

"Shouldn't we join the fight sir?" came a response from one of the Ships.

"You can join the fight after you've carried out my orders Mr."

"Aye Aye, Sir."

The Three corvettes broke out of formation, a couple of minutes later; there was a green flash of light as the three disappeared into LDS.

"If the Commonwealth has declared war, then who ever has been behind this has won," explained Clay. "We've been waiting to repay the Minbari for the last twenty years; it might be difficult to stop this now it's started."

Delenn was struck by the irony of the situation. Her 'order to kill them all' in revenge for Dukat had spiralled out of control leading to the Earth-Minbari war. And now that order had come to haunt her again. It felt that she's trapped herself in a circle that she couldn't leave.

* * *

"Flight Four! Intercept Target Alpha, draw their fire away from the cruisers," ordered Sheridan.

A tight beam transmission was sent to a flight of White Stars of the Enphinge's port bow and the group of ships headed into a large amount of corvettes. They scattered the attack but did no damage. There were blue and purple flashes as the White Star's scored hit after hit but it was obvious they weren't damaging their opponents.

Sheridan scanned the battle, after the initial salvo, the Commonwealth had retreated it's big ships back and left the fighter classes, corvettes and white stars to duel it out. It was obvious to Sheridan that the opposing commander was being cautious. He was evaluating the ISA fleet and probably had more information about Sheridan fleets' capabilities.

The jamming had ramped up again and they'd lost ship to ship communication just as before. This time, Sheridan had been prepared. The tight beam transmission couldn't be jammed. The only problem was that it might give an idea to what ships will be ordered to move.

The ISA Fleet had lost a few capital ships, none destroyed. However, they were several drifting dead in space. He noticed that they didn't destroy the ships, they just rendered them useless. It was obvious that he was trying a holding action until the Narn and Earth Fleet reinforced them.

As long as he kept his forces back and repelling the probes and fiets from the Commonwealth, then there was hope that this situation could be resolved. He noticed that the corvettes had regrouped but weren't approaching. They'd formed up into a sheer wall of ships. Sheridan was just about to order another pass by flight four again, when all of the corvettes launched missiles. They were targeted for this cruiser. His opponent had correctly deduced the command ship for his fleet.

"All vessels, target incoming missiles and fire." Sheridan ordered, trying to stay calm.

The entire fleet opened up at the incoming missiles but it seemed the missiles evaded the fire as if they had pilots flying them. However, against the entire ISA's fire power, the numbers were soon whittled down. The proximity warning sounded as the remaining two missiles approached the flag ship. One missile was caught by interceptors from the Cruiser but the other slammed into the ship and exploded.

Sheridan was thrown to the floor, as the ship lurched underneath him. Alarms sounded all around him. He clambered to his feet.

"What did we loose?" he shouted over the Alarms. In his gut, he already knew the answer.

"They hit the tight beam transmitter," came the reply. "We can't contact anyone in the fleet."

Sheridan knew what it meant. He'd given orders that the next cruiser in line would take command, if anything disabled this ship. Those orders should now be acted on but it did mean that he was no longer in charge of the battle.

* * *

"Right Sir, We have four strapped to us!" Chief Tech Lennon announced over the link. "We've linked the release option into the missile launcher."

"So we've got big dumb fires then?" asked Douglas

"Best we could do sir!"

"Wouldn't expect anything else Chief," complemented Douglas. "Get your team back on board and get ready for the big run."

"Aye Aye Sir!"

The Ark Royal had located the front section of the Warlock. There were five or six 'tentacles' which reached forward from the front of the destroyed ship section. Ivanova explained that is was part of the forward weapon systems and had been reverse engineered from the wreckage of Vorlon vessels at the end of the shadow war.

The tech crew had attached one 'tentacle' over the top and bottom of each of the missile pods.

"Once they're aboard, we'll have a small test and then we're straight in," said Douglas. "How's the situation?"

"Both Fleets have engaged with fighters and Midrange vessels," reported Lennier. "The big ships haven't had contact yet."

"All aboard, sir."

"Attention all hands, man your stations," order Douglas. "Mr. Smith, start your test."

Ark Royal moved forward, under Smith's delicate touch. A couple of turns later, he turned round.

"A bit sluggish, but she'll do!"

"Right, Set course and engage LDS." ordered Douglas.

* * *

The Agamemnon ploughed through hyperspace as fast as her engines could push. Delenn, MacDougan and Clay stood on the bridge. Delenn noticed that Clay would send a message using his link every five minutes or so.

"That is for security?" she asked him.

"I'm checking in."

"Are you all so paranoid?" she asked.

"Delenn, after facing your people in the war, we're allowed to be paranoid." Clay shot back. "Are Minbari allowed to take charge of EA Cruisers?"

"Delenn isn't in command," replied MacDougan. "She's allowed to make requests but not issue orders. However, as vice president of the ISA, commander in chief of the Rangers and she's the captain's wife, that gives her a bit of, as you say, clout?"

"Besides," said Delenn, "I practically know this vessel and her crew just as much as Jon does. He certainly talks about her enough."

"Everything?" asked Clay.

"From the flutter in the fusion reactor every second Wednesday, to the on-going drama of Lt Tong and her boyfriend on Proxima Three," Delenn said confidently.

"Ma'am," the Chinese officer at environmental, Clay assumed that it was Tong, spoke up. "I'm happy to say he's no longer my boyfriend."

"Lt, that is such good news," Delenn said, turning to the younger woman. "Apparently he never stopped, as Jon would say, 'boffing' the girl at the Proxima Three communication hub."

There was an awkward silence. The woman look devastated.

"I meant to say," She said in a quiet voice. "That he's my husband now!"

More silance. Delenn wished that the ground would swallow her up. She looked around the bridge to see the other bridge crew desperately trying not to laugh. Captain MacDougan couldn't look her in the eye.

"I'm so sorry Lt." she tried to apologize.

"That's not your problem, Ma'am," said Lt Tong recovering some degree of composure, "It will be his, when I get back to Proxima Three."

"Everything about the crew?" said Clay, with a smirk on his face.

"Almost everything," she admitted bashfully and tried to change the subject

"I can get Jon to get the ISA fleet to disengage, can you do the same?"

"I have options," said Clay.

"You mean a general order Seventeen?" said MacDougan.

Delenn looked at MacDougan with puzzlement.

"Any Officer from Ensign up to Commodore can issue a GO17 and take command of the fleet, if they believe they have information which the present commanding officer does not have." explained the EA Captain. "However, there are extreme penalties for its use. After the incident, the officer will be arrested, stripped of all rank and the drummed out of the service, unless there are mitigating circumstances."

"Or they're put in front of a firing squad." said Clay, "If I remember rightly, it's been issued four times and in each case no mitigating circumstances were found."

Delenn realised why Clay was finding it difficult. He was evaluating if the circumstances was bad enough to use a GO17 and risk his own life by doing so.

"Sir, we can jump into the system." called the navigation officer.

MacDougan nodded and the ship lurched as it dropped out of hyperspace and right into the middle of the biggest fighter battle since the shadow war.

Clay was immediately on the link. "Can we raise the Admiral?"

"Negative, Sir." came the reply. "The jamming is even worse here. The text links aren't working."

"Sir, I can't raise any of the ISA fleet." reported the Communication officer, "The Jamming is too thick."

"Well, At least we're safe." said Clay.

"Did they change the definition of the word safe while you were away?" said MacDougan. "We're in the middle of the biggest fire fight I have ever seen."

"Because we're docked, you're marked as friendly to all our fighters," explained Clay. "I imagine you're marked as friendly to the ISA as well."

"Safe we maybe," observed Delenn. "But until this jamming clears, there's nothing we can do."


	29. Chapter 29

"Target's on the scope," reported Smith.

"Anything else?" asked Douglas.

"My scope is clear," reported Ivanova, she looked at Douglas warily. He caught on to her suspicions almost immediately.

"Well, if it's a trap, we'll just have to spring it," Douglas mused. "Straight in, Mr Smith!"

Smith opened the throttle to full and then hit the thrusters' override. Douglas had explained to Lennier and Ivanova that LDS doesn't work when close to a stellar body. Ark Royal began to shake as the Thrusters were opened to full power. The crew were pressed back into their chairs as the gravity compensator's fought to keep up. All of a sudden, Smith hit a key and the shaking stopped as the burn finished.

The plan was to approach from a distance, line up with the Jammer and then accelerate to certain speed. Smith was to then turn off the engines and the ship would power down apart from basic life support, passive scanners and the release mechanism for their newly acquired projectiles. The idea was that the ship would look like some kind of drifting asteroid or other stellar debris on the scanner. So when they got close, they make a few course corrections, release the projectiles and then get away as quickly as possible.

It was one of those surreal moments of peace that always happens before a battle. Lennier was staring intently at the screen, monitoring the passive sensors. Douglas was looking above his console looking out of the viewport. Smith was visibly relaxing, stretching out and putting his hands behind his head, while Clanwellin was so nervous his foot was tapping the floor involuntary.

Nobody said a word, while the clock slowly counted down. She checked her readouts herself, no contacts apart from the Jammer.

"Damn!" whispered Smith.

Even his quiet voice made her jump.

"Problem?" asked Douglas.

"I'm too good sir," replied Smith.

"Meaning that we're on a collision course with that thing?" Douglas guessed.

"Yes Sir."

"They might take action against an object that's going to hit them," said Ivanova.

"They will take action." replied Douglas. "Feed power to the lateral and ventricle thrusters, Mr Lennier. We're going to need some evasive manoeuvring ability."

"As soon as we use that, they'll know were not an asteroid," replied Lennier.

"I know," Douglas said with a grimace. "Let's see how much time this gives us."

"I am picking up interference from the star," reported Lennier. "It could be camouflaging our approach."

"Let's hope so." replied Ivanova. "I wouldn't want to be blown to bits because we were doing a bad impression of a rock."

The clock counted down.

"Sir, we're loosing the sensors." reported Smith.

"Well, we'll have to eyeball it in."

"Forgive me, Susan but I have to ask," Lennier was looking at her with curiosity. "When did the EA start to integrate Vorlon technology into their ships?"

"That's supposed to be classified Lennier, but heck, it doesn't matter now. The Warlock was always the prototype; both the ISA and the EA are in a race to integrate the Vorlon big guns into their ships. We were testing the new technologies in this system when the Black Stars hit."

"ETA, two minutes." remarked Smith.

"Ok. When is the optimal firing position?" asked Douglas.

"1 minute, thirty seconds." Ivanova paused. "Mark."

"Lennier, get ready for a full power up once the projectiles are released. All power to engines, take it from life support if necessary."

"Aye Aye, Captain."

Douglas couldn't help but smile.

"I'm picking up three maybe four Black Stars on patrol around the Jammer," said Ivanova

There was a tense silence.

"They're not reacting."

"Mr Clanwellin, monitor those ships. I want to know if they break patrol. Leave the targeting to Ivanova."

"Aye Aye Sir!" The younger man looked glad just to be involved.

"1 Minute to release." reported Smith

They could see the Jammer quite clearly as it began to grow in size at an alarming rate.

"Forty seconds."

Ivanova's thumb hovered over the release button. She was trying not to shake.

"Thirty seconds."

_It's just another firing solution, _she thought, trying to calm herself. _You've done this kind thing of thing hundreds of times before._

"Twenty Seconds."

_So you've released dumb fires to hit a target at this velocity before? _She questioned herself. _You've never done anything like this before. You're kidding yourself!_

"Ten Seconds"

_Oh Lord, _She thought. _I'd better be right about this._

"Let them go!" ordered Douglas. "Lennier, All power to engines! Smith, Miss that Station!"

Ark Royal shuddered as the projectiles were left free. Her breaking thrusters fired to let them fly ahead. She then pitched until she was standing on her tail and then fired her engines at full thrust. She was still flying straight at the Jammer, it was all she could do to try and avoid it. The crew held of for dear life as the entire ship shook with the effort.

"Ten seconds to impact." reported Lennier.

"Us or the projectiles?" asked Douglas

"Erm, both!"

"Smith?"

"Nothing more I can do Captain," Smith replied. "My foot's to the floor here!"

"They've spotted us." shouted Clanwellin over the noise. "All four Black Stars are moving to intercept."

Douglas looked at the tactical view, the station looked huge. The four blips representing the Black Stars had changed profile and were pursuing.

"Ready for a mine drop." He ordered.

"How many?" asked Ivanova.

"All of them!"

"Impact in four," Smith began to count down.

"Three"

"Two"

"Two Projectiles have hit, two missed!" reported Ivanova.

"One"

"Impact now!"

Nothing happened, the Jammer passed underneath Ark Royal without touching it.

"No Boom?" asked Ivanova.

"No Boom!" said Douglas "We must have missed by metres. Full Ahead Mr Smith. Mr Lennier; even spread of power. Ivanova; release mines on my mark."

He could see on the tactical display that the Black Stars were in a straight pursuit, not far behind Ark Royal. He smiled with grim satisfaction.

"Release full spread."

The remaining mines left the rear of the ship and straight into the path of the pursuers. There was a series of explosions.

"We got two of them, but the other two evaded," reported Clanwellin.

"Damn, they've learnt their lesson and put a crew on those ships." observed Douglas. "What's the status of the Jammer?"

"I'm reading significant damage," Ivanova stared at the readouts; she noticed a light came on with Garibaldi's communicator.

"But it's not been enough; the jamming field is still up." Lennier confirmed.

Douglas summed up the situation perfectly.

"Bugger!"

* * *

Delenn looked out of the main viewport of the Agamemnon. It reminded her of the Battle of the Line. She was perfectly safe, just a spectator to the spectacle. The different fighters danced round each other, their vapour trails leaving glowing lines, which were deceptive, it was easy to forget that they people trying to survive.

A Centari fighter passed close to the viewport. It exploded. Delenn stood back shocked. Even after all they had been through, it was still a shock to see a life so violently ended. She looked around to see a T-fighter flying in a straight line, she could see the cockpit on fire and the pilot was still alive, burning to death in the coldness of space. A Minbari fighter ended the pilot's suffering. Her vision blurred, she didn't care who was being shot down. Minbari, Human or Centari, they were all victims of this hand from the shadows.

"It's a terrible sight," said Clay "Reminds me of the line."

"Yes," said Delenn "Another pointless war, more loss of good people. It never seems to end."

"It's ironic that you married Sheridan," said Clay. "His task force was supposed to rendezvous with ours during the Battle of the Line but never showed. We thought they'd been lost."

Delenn looked at him, "He's never mentioned it."

"Odd," said Clay. "He was there at every evacuation meeting before the battle."

"He's never held anything back about the Minbari war before. Not even about the Black Star."

_Unlike you, _she reminded herself guiltily.

"Damn, I was just thinking that there might be away to end this without me having to issue a GO17."

"How?"

"There are passwords and codes that we were given to him which he should remember; they could be used to stop this."

"He wouldn't have forgotten something like that." Delenn stated.

"Then he might have been made to. Psi Corp could have removed those memories."

"So we're back to a GO17." Delenn looked at Clay with sympathy. "If there's anything I can do?"

"It's ironic that a Minbari should offer to help," Clay smiled. "However, there could be something."

He handed her a piece of paper, "If you tell him this phrase, it should remove any blocks the telepaths will have left. It was a generic phrase used by the Psi-Corp at the time."

"I see," said Delenn. "But it all depends on this jamming being removed."

It was that point that Mr. Garibaldi's communicator came to life.

"Delenn? This is Ivanova, can you read me?"

* * *

"Susan?" The voice came through the communicator.

"Thank God!" Ivanova shouted, as Ark Royal was thrown about in a series of evasive manoeuvres.

"Clanwellin, Take over gunnery. Let the captain speak to Delenn," ordered Douglas.

"Aye Aye Sir!" Clanwellin and Ivanova swapped seats.

"Delenn, we're at spacial co-ordinates 25, 46, 99. We've found the Jammer. Ark Royal has succeeded in damaging it but we can't destroy it. It's massive. We're under attack by two Black Stars even as I speak," She paused for breath. "Can you get a strike force together?"

"Not unless we can stop the battle going on here." Delenn admitted, "I've only got the Agamemnon and the Dreadnought on side here."

"Delenn, the commonwealth capital ships are beginning to move into a firing position." Clay's voice came over the link.

"Target the first Black Star," ordered Douglas. "And fire a salvo of missiles. Clay is that you?"

"Yes, Douglas."

"Any chance you could use the alternative means of communication?"

"I've already tried that but you know the rules, all telepathic shields go up."

"Missiles Away," called Clanwellin.

"The Bottom LDA is overloading!" reported Lennier.

"Lennier?" The shock in Delenn's voice was evident, even over the communication.

"There's no time to explain," replied Ivanova. "We need assistance."

"One Black Star Down, the other one is going to ram." called Clanwellin.

"Fire PBC, rapid fire!" ordered Douglas.

Ark Royal pitched over to face the oncoming Black Star, the forward facing PBC fired again and again, hitting the opponent head on. The ship crumpled and then exploded. However, a chunk of debris flew straight through Ark royal's wing. The ship was put into an uncontrollable roll, throwing everybody from their seats.

"Susan?" the communicator sounded concerned.

The artificial gravity caught up with the situation and Ivanova clambered back into the seat.

"We're OK." She confirmed.

"Status?" asked Douglas.

"One of the shield generators has gone. All weapons and the jump drive has been disabled." reported Lennier.

Douglas looked over the status on his own console. He looked up at Smith and just for a second they locked eyes. Smith nodded. He looked across at Lennier, who also nodded.

"Right, Clanwellin. Ivanova; get up to the secondary bridge on the life boat. See if you patch the weapon systems to the gunnery station there," Douglas ordered.

He keyed for ship wide broadcast. "All hands, report to the left pasty for repair duties."

Clanwellin and Ivanova left the bridge, she could see the other crew members clamber clambering towards the residential section.

"Pasty?" Ivanova asked Clanwellin.

"Our nickname for the lifeboats," Clanwellin explained, "We have two, each with its own bridge and life support for over a month. They look like a cheese pasty when launched you see."

They arrived at the bridge; it was even more cramped than the primary bridge. There was only one console. All of a sudden there was a lurch and the sound of small explosions.

"Have we been hit?" asked Ivanova as they took place at the console.

Clanwellin frowned as he looked at the display.

"No, we've been launched!"

They could see the Ark Royal drop away from the life boat and fire her main engines. It turned back towards the Jammer. A horrible realisation formed in Ivanova's stomach.

"Oh no!" she whispered.

"They're not." Clanwellin was in denial.

"Not again!" Ivanova's voice broke, "This isn't fair."

_I'm sorry Susan, _She could feel Douglas' voice in her head. _We'll have to take a rain check on that drink._

_Why?_

_Because it's gone to be done. How many are dying in that battle now?_

_I know, _she paused. _It's just so unfair. Marcus, Davidson, the Warlock and now you._

_Make sure Clanwellin doesn't do anything daft. If it's any consolation, I think it would have been great! _Douglas sent, echoing Kelly's last words.

They could see Ark Royal accelerate towards the Jammer, getting smaller and smaller until they could no longer make it out against the Jammer. There was a flash and the Jammer vanished from view. The Lifeboat was tossed about in the shockwave that followed.

"Susan, you did it!" Delenn's voice was exuberant from the communicator, "The jamming has cleared."

"The Ark Royal did it." She replied quietly.

"Susan?" There was confusion on the other end of the communicator, "Is everybody all right?"

"No," she was on the border of tears, "Just pick us up when you can Delenn."


	30. Chapter 30

"Jon!"

There was a pause.

"Jon, can you read me?"

Sheridan was speechless. He couldn't believe his ears. He tore his attention away from the battle. He'd noticed the Earth Alliance cruiser only a couple of moments ago but hadn't been able to identify it. He noticed that the Commonwealth's big ships had started to move.

"Delenn?" he said gaining his voice back, "Where are you?"

"I'm on the Agamenon!" she replied. "Ivanova has managed to stop the jamming."

"Susan?"

"Jon, these people can be our friends…"

"They seemed determined to pick a fight Delenn."

"Please Jon, The Captain of the Dreadnaught is on board the Agamemnon, they have good reason to believe we hostile because someone else has set up this conflict. You need to get our forces to disengage."

"Delenn, I need evidence and quickly. I can't just turn our back."

"Annulus Horribilouse!"

"What?"

* * *

All of a sudden he was no longer in the command centre of the Minbari vessel. He was in the presidential office in earth dome, or rather two of him were. It was like walking round a hologram at Disney planet. There was himself, standing at ease, in the corner. The joint chiefs were there and about five or six other Admirals, Generals and Captains. The president, herself, was sat behind her desk; she'd aged visibly from the time he remembered from before this.

He quickly glanced at the clock, and had to catch himself. The time and date told him that it was two hours after the end of the Battle of the Line. He's been, actually he couldn't remember what he had been doing. He had no memory of this meeting. However, he couldn't put his finger on it but this felt more real to him than the work he'd though he'd been doing at the time.

He looked around the room again. Something told him that not all the people who should have been there were. The clock began to tick and the room slowly came alive like someone had just played the play button on a video.

"Yes Madam President, most of the Minbari fleet has gone."

"Thank God it's over," said the President.

"It appears that way," said one of the joint chiefs.

"What were their terms?"

"There are to be no demands for reparations, diplomatic links are to be established, the leader of squadron 101, Jeffery Sinclair is to be mind wiped of his contact with the Minbari. His Starfury will be returned in approximately 20 hours. There is a proviso that no harm is to come to him because of this incident."

"That's it?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Three years and how many lives, for that?"

"I don't want to think about what this Sinclair must have said to them but it must have been good," another of the joint chiefs commented.

"What about the evacuation plan?" asked the President.

"We've managed to stop most of them but one group executed the plan and have escaped."

"Can we get them back?"

"Ma'am, we've tried all the passwords on all the frequencies. There's been nothing. They've gone."

"Hide their numbers in the line casualties. I want no leaks on this."

The president turned her attention to the other officers in the office.

"Thank you for all your efforts," she said, not quite looking any of them in the eye. "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry. Dismissed."

The officers, including this version of him, left the office and he glimpsed several figures in black waiting for them in reception outside. Psi Cops?

* * *

"Oh My God!"

Sheridan was trying to stay on his feet. His stomach lurched but he held it down. He'd been a part of the greatest cover up in earth history. Sinclair, the evacuation of an elite few, maybe a million people out of the billions awaiting death from the Minbari guns. He realised who the Commonwealth was.

"Open a broadcast wide link to the Commonwealth fleet." He said, regaining his composure.

"Attention Commonwealth Fleet. This is President Sheridan formally of earth force, serial number 0678576478. The passwords are Gibson, Rowling, Feituch and Adams."

He instructed the communication system to repeat the message until he got a response. Suddenly, a video link was established with the Commonwealth Flagship.

"This is Admiral Canonizado aboard the CNV Invincible. Your very late reporting in, Captain."

"Admiral Canonizado." greeted Sheridan. "It's been a long time."

"Indeed, I'm receiving a communication from one of our ships, the Dreadnaught, regarding this situation we're in."

"I'm willing to call an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal Admiral, if your force break off as well."

"Very Well." The Admiral turned to his aid and issued the disengage order.

"All Ships, this is Sheridan. Cease Fire and return to base."

"Captain or rather, Mr President. We'll be retrieving the damaged and the dead and then we'll leave." His face was full of distain for the Human on a Minbari vessel. "We'll send you co-ordinates of our territory with a buffer zone. Passage to all non commonwealth ships is denied until further notice."

"Admiral, surely we can talk about this?" Sheridan was confused by the Admiral's abruptness.

"That's for our leaders to decide. Invincible out."

The waves of fighters parted, the flashes stopped. He could make out the Agamemnon approaching this vessel. A small ship detached from it, probably the Dreadnaught, and disappeared with a green flash. This madness had finally stopped but he didn't care, in a few minutes he was going to be reunited with his wife.

* * *

"So the puppet masters were thwarted again."

Anybody who was watching the Centari Emperor would have thought he was talking to himself. Londo would have given all his riches just to be talking to himself.

_It is a setback I'll admit. However, all we lost was a Jammer, a capture ship and a redundant penal colony. The Alliance lost a lot more._

"Maybe so, but you were beaten back again."

Lando felt his keeper smile.

_But we have eliminated one of your potential rivals for the throne. The Admiral could have become a threat in time and as long as you are in charge, we are in charge._

"You can't have organised this entire escapade just to get rid of a Centari Admiral?"

_You'll never know Lando. You haven't paid to see those cards._

The Keeper laughed at him, sending shivers of ice cold down his spine.

* * *

"If it hadn't been Susan telling me, I never would have believed it." Sheridan was in his old office in Babylon 5. Both Delenn and Lockley were there, with Garibaldi on the link.

"How is she?" he asked with concern.

"Shaky," said Delenn. "I'll go down and see her soon."

"How are you?"

"Having discovered what I was up to during the Battle of the Line?" Sheridan asked.

He snorted, "As well as to be expected. Secrets and Lies sure as well eat at with you."

"Still," Garibaldi interjected. "A major war was averted, shadow technology destroyed. We can now work on a way to stop that corruption of the White Star Fleet. Surely we've got some positives here."

"Yeah," sighed Sheridan. " I know but there's always a price to pay for it."

"Any luck with establishing communications with the Commonwealth?" asked Lockley.

"None, they've laid claim to twenty star systems as their territory. There isn't anybody else even near there so that's not going to be a problem."

"Well Captain Ivanova shouldn't have to worry about the extreme sanction," said Lockly. "All orders regarding the Commonwealth have been rescinded. She's safe."

"After all she's been through, she deserves at least that." observed Delenn.

* * *

She stood watching the mist roll in off the sea. Here where the three sea lochs met the Isle of Skye, Susuan Ivanova stood looking over the Castle of Eilean Donan. She let the quiet of the place settle the turmoil of the last few months. There had been the hearings, the promotion to Fleet Captain and the memorial services. They'd given her plenty of leave but she didn't know what to do with it, so she visited a couple of the places that Douglas had told her about.

It was a strange feeling, up to a couple of weeks a go, she'd been throwing up nearly every day. She was that worried about it that she'd gone to see Stephen. First of all he thought she was pregnant but tests had proved she wasn't. He put it down to the stress she was under and then signed a document allowing even more leave on medical grounds.

Everybody else was busy, Sheridan and Delenn on their Diplomatic runs. Garibaldi running his company, Stephen was run off his feet in the medical facility. She was kind of used to the loneliness now. She might even like it. The ancient castle in front of her seemed to symbolise that. For hundreds of years it had stood here alone, a lonely sentinel watching the sea and sky.

"The problem with Eilean Donan," came a voice next to her, "is that it's been alone for so long, it wants you join it."

Her blood ran cold; she slowly turned, mouth wide open, to stare at the voice's owner.

"What's this? Guppy Fish at feeding time?" Captain Philip Douglas said with a half grin on his face.

"What? Where? And mostly how?" was all Ivanova managed to splutter out.

"Ah, did you forget that our bridge section is also a life boat?"

Realisation dawned on her face. She smiled, drew back her fist and punched him in the jaw. There was a very satisfying crack.

"Ohya!" came the involuntary yell from Douglas.

"That's for putting me in the life boat." She screamed.

She grabbed him again.

"And this is for coming back."

She kissed him on the lips and they held each other for a little while. She broke off first.

"Lennier and Smith?"

"All fine." He said, as they walked away from the castle towards a nearby village. "In fact, we're thinking of making Lennier the Minbari Ambassador. Best not tell your Rangers that through, he is under our protection."

"Jon has been trying to establish contact."

Douglas smiled, "Yes, we know. When you've caught us up with our technology, we'll be in touch. We've got to sort out a few things ourselves before we're ready to talk to Earth or the Alliance."

"Such as?"

"Oh, the hatred of the Minbari. The feeling of abandonment by Earth." He explained nonchalantly. "Lennier's a lot of help with the Minbari situation, so you never know."

"So what are you doing here?"

"Well, I didn't want you to think it was a permanent rain check." He said, producing a bottle out of his jacket. "And I had to come home to get a supply of the 'good' stuff."

He reached into his pocket and gave her a data crystal.

"What's this?"

"It's occurred to us that there might me some un-registered telepaths that might not want to be part of the psi-corp. They're perfectly welcome to join us anytime they want, as are you."

She grinned, "How long can you stay?"

"For tonight only. I fly the new Ark Royal on a shake down cruise in a couple of weeks."

He reached into his pocket again and produced a hologram. The ship looked very big, angular and aggressive.

"Nova Class, not to be confused with the old Earth Force ships though." He explained, "Makes the Danube cruisers look like broken down wreaks already, and they've been in service less than six months."

"I'm happy for you." She said, it was like a huge weight had lifted. She reached into her own pocket "Here, take this."

She handed over her communicator from Garibaldi.

"You never know when I'd like to chat."

Douglas looked down at it and smiled.

"You ever been to a Ceilidh?" he asked.

"No." Ivanova smiled at him as they approached the village.

"Right, follow me." He said, grinning like an idiot, "I'm going to teach you how to dance like you've never danced before. But watch out when they start 'Strip the Willow', it's going to hurt!"

**The End**


End file.
